After identity : rethinking race, sex, and gender / Georgia Warnke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Warnke, Georgia.

Series:

Contemporary political theory

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Identity (Psychology).

Identity (Psychology)--Social aspects.

Identity politics.

Discrimination--Law and legislation.

Discrimination.

Physical Description:

xiii, 251 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Social and political theorists have traced in detail how individuals come to possess gender, sex, and racial identities. This book examines the nature of these identities. Georgia Warnke argues that identities, in general, are interpretations and, as such, have more in common with textual understanding than we commonly acknowledge. A racial, sexed, or gendered understanding of who we and others are is neither exhaustive of the "meanings" we can be said to have, nor uniquely correct. We are neither always, nor only, black or white, men or women, or males or females. Rather, all identities have a restricted scope and can lead to injustices and contradictions when they are employed beyond that scope. In concluding her argument, Warnke considers the legal and policy implications that follow for affirmative action, childbearing leave, the position of gays in the military, and marriage between same-sex partners.

Contents:

Introduction: reading individuals 1

1 The tragedy of David Reimer 15

2 Racial identification and identity 49

3 Race and interpretation 82

4 Sex and science 120

5 Rethinking sex and gender identities 153

6 Marriage, the military, and identity 188

7 Hermeneutics and the politics of identity 223.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521882811

0521882818

9780521709293

0521709296

OCLC:

165408056