Lacan and Critical Feminism

Lacan and Critical Feminism PDF Author: Rahna McKey Carusi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429515901
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This book takes a critical feminist approach to Lacan’s fundamental concepts, merging discourse and sexuation theories in a novel way for both psychoanalysis and feminism, and exploring the possibility of a feminist subject within a non-masculine logic. In Lacan and Critical Feminism, Carusi merges Lacan’s theories of discourse and sexuation, not only from a gender/sexuality angle, but also from a literary, feminist, and women’s studies framework. By drawing examples from literature, film, art, and socio-political movements to focus on discourse and sexuation, the text examines how tropes impact the subject’s positionality within any discourse mode. The book also uses women’s collective experience and action to illustrate ways that women have repositioned dominant narratives discursively. This text represents essential reading for researchers interested in the relationship between Lacan and feminist theory.

Lacan and Critical Feminism

Lacan and Critical Feminism PDF Author: Rahna McKey Carusi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429515901
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This book takes a critical feminist approach to Lacan’s fundamental concepts, merging discourse and sexuation theories in a novel way for both psychoanalysis and feminism, and exploring the possibility of a feminist subject within a non-masculine logic. In Lacan and Critical Feminism, Carusi merges Lacan’s theories of discourse and sexuation, not only from a gender/sexuality angle, but also from a literary, feminist, and women’s studies framework. By drawing examples from literature, film, art, and socio-political movements to focus on discourse and sexuation, the text examines how tropes impact the subject’s positionality within any discourse mode. The book also uses women’s collective experience and action to illustrate ways that women have repositioned dominant narratives discursively. This text represents essential reading for researchers interested in the relationship between Lacan and feminist theory.

Lacan and Postfeminism

Lacan and Postfeminism PDF Author: Elizabeth Wright
Publisher: Totem Books
ISBN:
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Jacques Lacan is known as 'the French Freud' and is the key figure of postmodern psychoanalysis.

Jacques Lacan

Jacques Lacan PDF Author: Elizabeth Grosz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134981082
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Grosz gives a critical overview of Lacan's work from a feminist perspective. Discussing previous attempts to give a feminist reading of his work, she argues for women's autonomy based on an indifference to the Lacanian phallus.

Imagine There's No Woman

Imagine There's No Woman PDF Author: Joan Copjec
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262532709
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
A psychoanalytic and philosophical exploration of sublimation as a key term in Jacques Lacan's theories of ethics and feminine sexuality. Jacques Lacan claimed that his theory of feminine sexuality, including the infamous proposition, "the Woman does not exist," constituted a revision of his earlier work on "the ethics of psychoanalysis." In Imagine There's No Woman, Joan Copjec shows how Freud's ragtag, nearly incoherent notion of sublimation was refashioned by Lacan to become the key term in his ethics. To trace the link between feminine being and Lacan's ethics of sublimation, Copjec argues, one must take the negative proposition about the woman's existence not as just another nominalist denunciation of thought's illusions about the existence of universals, but as recognition of the power of thought, which posits and gives birth to the difference of objects from themselves. While the relativist position currently dominant insists on the difference between my views and another's, Lacan insists on this difference within the object I see. The popular position fuels the disaffection with which we regard a world in a state of decomposition, whereas the Lacanian alternative urges our investment in a world that awaits our invention. In the book's first part, Copjec explores positive acts of invention/sublimation: Antigone's burial of her brother, the silhouettes by the young black artist Kara Walker, Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills, and Stella Dallas's final gesture toward her daughter in the well-known melodrama. In the second part, the focus shifts to sublimation's adversary, the cruelly uncreative superego, as Copjec analyzes Kant's concept of radical evil, envy's corruption of liberal demands for equality and justice, and the difference between sublimation and perversion. Maintaining her focus on artistic texts, she weaves her arguments through discussions of Pasolini's Salo, the film noir classic Laura, and the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination.

Feminism and Its Discontents

Feminism and Its Discontents PDF Author: Mari Jo BUHLE
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674029070
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
With Sigmund Freud notoriously flummoxed about what women want, any encounter between psychoanalysis and feminism would seem to promise a standoff. But in this lively, often surprising history, Mari Jo Buhle reveals that the twentieth century's two great theories of liberation actually had a great deal to tell each other. Starting with Freud's 1909 speech to an audience that included the feminist and radical Emma Goldman, Buhle recounts all the twists and turns this exchange took in the United States up to the recent American vogue of Jacques Lacan. While chronicling the contributions of feminism to the development of psychoanalysis, she also makes an intriguing case for the benefits psychoanalysis brought to feminism. From the first, American psychoanalysis became the property of freewheeling intellectuals and popularists as well as trained analysts. Thus the cultural terrain that Buhle investigates is populated by literary critics, artists and filmmakers, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists--and the resulting psychoanalysis is not so much a strictly therapeutic theory as an immensely popular form of public discourse. She charts the history of feminism from the first wave in the 1910s to the second in the 1960s and into a variety of recent expressions. Where these paths meet, we see how the ideas of Freud and his followers helped further the real-life goals of a feminism that was a widespread social movement and not just an academic phenomenon. The marriage between psychoanalysis and feminism was not pure bliss, however, and Buhle documents the trying moments; most notably the "Momism" of the 1940s and 1950s, a remarkable instance of men blaming their own failures of virility on women. An ambitious and highly engaging history of ideas, Feminism and Its Discontents brings together far-flung intellectual tendencies rarely seen in intimate relation to each other--and shows us a new way of seeing both. Table of Contents: Introduction Feminism, Freudianism, and Female Subjectivity Dissent in Freud's Ranks Culture and Feminine Personality Momism and the Flight from Manhood Ladies in the Dark Feminists versus Freud Feminine Self-in-Relation The Crisis in Patriarchal Authority In the Age of the Vanishing Subject Notes Acknowledgments Index Reviews of this book: Where some feminists have been hostile to psychoanalysis, and some psychoanalysts have been hostile to feminism, Buhle, a MacArthur Fellow and professor at Brown University, finds them linked in their quest to understand selfhood, gender identity, family structures and sexual expression...Feminism and Its Discontents is an excellent guide to the history of these ideas...The struggles of feminism and psychoanalysis may be cyclical, but they are far from over, and far from dull. --Elaine Showalter, Washington Post Book World Reviews of this book: Buhle's project is to uncover the 'continual conversation' that feminism and psychoanalysis have had with one another, to show how they are mutually constitutive. By charting the exchanges between psychoanalysis and feminism, Feminism and Its Discontents corrects the common impression that feminist criticisms fell on deaf, if not disdainful, ears. Buhle takes pains to detail how feminists and their opponents inside and outside psychoanalysis have set the terms for key debates...Buhle is an animated and engaged storyteller. The story she tells--covering nearly a century of the vicissitudes of psychoanalysis and feminism--is full of twists and turns, well-chosen anecdotes and occasional double-crosses. The cast of characters is inspiring, exasperating, remarkable, mercurial, colorful and sometimes slightly loony. Buhle draws them with sympathy and a keen eye for the evocative detail...Buhle writes with zest, touches of humor and energy. Her style is witty and readable...It is no mean feat to avoid ponderous and technical language when writing about psychoanalysis, but she manages it...All told, psychoanalysis and feminism, sometimes in tandem and sometimes at arm's length, have made vital contributions to the question of female selfhood. The 'odd couple' of our century, they share a large part of the responsibility for our particular form of self-consciousness and for the meaning of individuality in modern society. Mari Jo Buhle deftly illuminates how together they advanced the ambiguous and radical project of modern selfhood. --Jeanne Marecek, Women's Review of Books Reviews of this book: Feminism and Its Discontents sets out to unravel the wondrously complex love-hate relationships between--and within--feminism and psychoanalysis, which it sees as the two most important movements of modernity...The twists and tensions in that relationship highlight the continuous arguments around sexual difference and their entanglement in the messy conflicts in women's lives between motherhood and careers, self-realization and gender justice...Buhle leads her readers through the repeated battles over feminism, Freudianism and female subjectivity with exceptional clarity and care. Her book will...serve as a reliable introduction for those who have scant knowledge of the historical ties binding feminism to psychoanalysis [and] is also useful for those...who wish to remind themselves of what they thought they already knew, but may well have forgotten. --Lynn Segal, Radical Philosophy Reviews of this book: Feminism and Its Discontents adds a novel and welcome twist to [the Freud] conversation, the proposition that feminism was so central to Freud's Americanization that the quest for gender equality can be credited with turning psychoanalysis into what we imagine it always was: an enterprise centered on femininity and female sexuality...[Buhle's] assertions are as enticing as they are controversial...The book [is] as relevant for students of feminist politics as for scholars interested in the history of psychoanalysis itself. --Ellen Herman, Journal of American History Reviews of this book: An exhaustively researched and accessibly written account of the intersections and collisions between [psychoanalysis and feminism]...Buhle chronicles the gyrations of history and assesses how social theory influences culture and vice versa. The result is far-reaching, and she is at her best when reflecting on how the mainstream accommodates and interprets the scholarly. Overall, the text promises a lively overview of the mutual benefits derived from a critical coalition between psychoanaylsis and feminism. Highly recommended for all libraries. --Eleanor J. Bader, Library Journal Reviews of this book: [Buhle] bases her intriguing and expansive historical study on the premise that feminism and psychoanalytic theory, each in its own way concerned with understanding the 'self,' developed in continuous dialogue with each other. The author's captivating, energetic writing style reflects the often spirited, surprisingly tenacious relationship of these two theories--from their emergence as 'unlikely bedpartners of Modernism'; through the shifting intellectual patterns of this century and the insidious mother-blaming of the '50s; to the contemporary postmodern paradigm of subjectivity and selfhood. Combining thorough research and incisive analysis, Buhle examines the ongoing discourse among Freudian, new-Freudian, and feminist theorists throughout the century as well as the endless fascination of popular culture with the questions of biology versus culture, difference versus equality. A vital addition to both women's studies and psychology collections. --Grace Fill, Booklist Reviews of this book: Feminism and Its Discontents covers a dazzling spectrum of thinkers and polemicists, ranging from Charlotte Perkins Gilman to Barbara Ehrenreich, with admirable clarity and succinctness. [Buhle's] reach in terms of American [and French] classical, neo-, and post-Freudian writing by men and women on women's psychosexual development is equally impressive...Few scholars would attempt a comprehensive intellectual history on such a charged topic. Buhle has done so in this informative scholarly feat. --Kirkus Reviews Reviews of this book: Buhle has bridged the void between feminism and psychoanalysis with a historian's thorough and penetrating interpretation of theories and thoughts implicit in 20th-century liberation movements. The introduction is clearly developed and carefully documented...Each [chapter] is skillfully organized with extensive references and notes to motivate the astute scholar...There is no question that Buhle has adeptly used a multidisciplinary approach to present ideas and thoughts that give contemporary feminists and post-Freudians another opportunity for dialogue on the terms 'difference' and 'equality.' --G.M. Greenberg, Choice Feminism and psychoanalysis have each been defining moments of this now fading century, and in their tangled relations lie some of its main preoccupations. It takes a historian's eye to unravel this story, and one with the breadth, sympathy, insight, and wit of Mari Jo Buhle to do it justice. Feminism And Its Discontents will undoubtedly stand as the definitive study of the encounter between these two great movements. --Joel Kovel, Bard College, author of Red Hun

Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and Maternal Subjectivity

Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and Maternal Subjectivity PDF Author: Alison Stone
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136593519
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
In this book, Alison Stone develops a feminist approach to maternal subjectivity. Stone argues that in the West the self has often been understood in opposition to the maternal body, so that one must separate oneself from the mother and maternal care-givers on whom one depended in childhood to become a self or, in modernity, an autonomous subject. These assumptions make it difficult to be a mother and a subject, an autonomous creator of meaning. Insofar as mothers nonetheless strive to regain their subjectivity when their motherhood seems to have compromised it, theirs cannot be the usual kind of subjectivity premised on separation from the maternal body. Mothers are subjects of a new kind, who generate meanings and acquire agency from their position of re-immersion in the realm of maternal body relations, of bodily intimacy and dependency. Thus Stone interprets maternal subjectivity as a specific form of subjectivity that is continuous with the maternal body. Stone analyzes this form of subjectivity in terms of how the mother typically reproduces with her child her history of bodily relations with her own mother, leading to a distinctive maternal and cyclical form of lived time.

Toward a Feminist Lacanian Left

Toward a Feminist Lacanian Left PDF Author: Alicia Valdés
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100055161X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
While traditional feminist readings on antagonism have pivoted around the sole axis of sex and/or gender, a broader and intersectional approach to antagonism is much needed; this book offers an innovative, feminist, and discursive reading on the Lacanian concept of sexual position as a way to problematize the concepts of political antagonism and political subjects. Can Lacanian psychoanalysis offer new grounds for feminist politics? This discursive mediation of Lacan's work presents a new theoretical framework upon which to articulate proposals for intersectional political theory. The first part of this book develops the theoretical framework, and the second part applies it to the construction of woman’s identity in European politics and economy. It concludes with notes for a feminist political and economic praxis through community currencies and municipalism. The interdisciplinary approach of this book will appeal to scholars interested in the fields of psychoanalysis, feminisms, and political philosophy as well as multidisciplinary scholars interested in discourse theory, sexuality and gender studies, cultural studies, queer theory, and continental philosophy. Students at master's and PhD level will also find this a useful feminist introduction to Lacanian psychoanalysis, discourse, and gender.

Lacan in Contexts

Lacan in Contexts PDF Author: David Macey
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1789607396
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
In the most comprehensive study of Jacques Lacan yet to be published in English, David Macey challenges many of the assumptions that have come to surround Lacan's work. He shows that key elements of Lacanian thought relate not to structuralism, as is often claimed, but to surrealism, Bataille and the early French phenomenologists. The famous "return to Freud" is shown to mask Lacan's adherence to a psychiatric tradition and to trends within French psychoanalysis which were opposed by Freud himself. A detailed and challenging reading of work by Lacan and his associates on femininity reveals its reliance upon a virulently sexist discourse and upon an iconography derived from surrealism. The view that Lacanian psychoanalysis has a positive contribution to make to feminism and to theories of gender and sexual difference is contested. As well as providing a new and provocative reading of Lacan's work, Lacan in Contexts is an important contribution to psychoanalytic history and to the history of French intellectual life.

Revaluing French Feminism

Revaluing French Feminism PDF Author: Nancy Fraser
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253324368
Category : Feminism
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
"... Fraser and Bartky have brought the encounter between U.S. and French feminism to a new level of seriousness." --Ethics In the last decade, elements of French feminist discourse have permeated and transformed the larger feminist culture in the United States. This volume is the first sustained attempt to revalue French feminism and answer the question: What has been gained and what has been lost as a result of this intercultural encounter? Interviews with Simone de Beauvoir open the book; essays by French feminists Sarah Kofman and Luce Irigaray follow; the North American contributors are Judith Butler, Nancy Fraser, Diana J. Fuss, Nancy J. Holland, Eleanor H. Kuykendall, Dorothy Leland, Diana T. Meyers, Andrea Nye, and Margaret A. Simons.

Performing Feminisms

Performing Feminisms PDF Author: Sue-Ellen Case
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801839696
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
A valuable, provoking, important addition to any theatre scholar or practitioner's library, especially since feminist theory is a relative newcomer to the world of theatre.