Subjectivity without subjects : from abject fathers to desiring mothers / Kelly Oliver.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Oliver, Kelly, 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Feminist theory.

Feminist psychology.

Subjectivity.

Women--Identity.

Women.

Men--Identity.

Men.

Group identity.

Physical Description:

xvi, 207 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, [1998]

Summary:

In Subjectivity without Subjects, well-known philosopher and feminist theorist Kelly Oliver looks at aspects of popular culture, film, science, and law to examine contemporary notions of paternity and maternity. Oliver studies the roles of paternal responsibility, virility, and race in such events as the Million Man March and 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 such well-known filmmakers as Polanski, Bergman, and Varda in developing a theory of identity that opens the subject to otherness and difference.

Contents:

I. Abject Fathers

1 The Morality of American Manhood, Responsibility, and Virility 3

2 Fatherhood and the Promise of Ethics 25

3 Abjection in Fassbinder's Despair and Polanski's The Tenant 43

II. Desiring Mothers

4 Kristeva's Imaginary Father as a Screen for the Desiring Mother 55

5 Recognition, Witnessing, and Identity: Drucilla Cornell on Family Law 79

6 Face to Face with the mOther: Alterity in Bergman's Persona 95

III. Subjectivity without Subjects

7 Fractal Politics: How to Use the Subject 111

8 Between Soma and Psyche: Kristeva and the Crisis in Meaning 129

9 Subjectivity without Subjects: Circulation from Vision to Visions 149

10 Beyond Recognition: Witnessing the Other Otherwise in Varda's Vagabond 161.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (187-193) and index.

ISBN:

0847692523

0847692531

OCLC:

39465056