Subjectivity without Subjects: From Abject Fathers to Desiring Mothers - Hardcover

Oliver, Kelly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0847692523 ISBN 13: 9780847692521

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998

Synopsis

Subjectivity without Subjects An examination of notions of paternity and maternity in culture, film, science and law. It studies the role of paternal responsibility, virility and race in such events as the Million Man March and suggests ways to conceive of self-other relations and the subjective identity at stake in them. Full description

About this title

Review:

Subjectivity without Subjects takes on the much-needed project of theorizing identity and subjectivity as loving openness to difference. Oliver argues that theories of witnessing can overcome the limitations of a Hegelian notion of recognition by acknowledging when recognition is impossible. Her account of a subject as an open system provides a response to contemporary debates about responsibility and agency that avoids the trap of conceiving subjects as either completely active or passive. Oliver's reading of such events as the Million Man March and various films provide practical applications of the theoretical points she makes, rendering this book wonderfully accessible to the student and layperson as well as refreshingly concrete.--Tamsin Lorraine, Swarthmore College

In her brilliant new book, Kelly Oliver shows us why feminists were so right to insist that the personal is political. Oliver provides us with a convincing argument that our basic ideas of mothers and fathers have left us in a world of subjectivity without subjects. Only by confronting the heart of the matter of personal life can we develop an approach to a feminist politics of liberation that might lead all of us to be significantly less discontented.--Drucilla Cornell, Rutgers University

Oliver reaches beyond the limits of professional philosophy without impairing her ability to be theoretically sophisticated.--Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy

Synopsis:

In this volume, philosopher and feminist theorist, Kelly Oliver, takes a look at aspects of popular culture, film, science and law to examine contemporary notions of paternity and maternity. She studies the role of paternal responsibility, virility and race in such events as the Million Man March and the growth of the Promise Keeper's movement and suggests alternative ways to conceive of self-other relations and the subjective identity at stake in them. In addition, she offers a detailed analysis of particular works by film-makers such as Polanski, Bergman and Varda in developing a theory of identity that opens the subject to otherness or difference.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0847692523
• ISBN 13: 9780847692521
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224