Disciplining Foucault : feminism, power, and the body
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Disciplining Foucault : feminism, power, and the body
（Thinking gender）
Routledge, 1991
- : hard
- : pbk
Available at 41 libraries
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hard ISBN 9780415901871
Description
It has been argued that the discourses of western culture are thoroughly masculinist and offer no place for women. Women's only possibilities are to speak in a masculine voice, construct a new language, or be silent. Foucault's highly influential analyses of power and knowledge would therefore be irrelevant for the women's movement, and use of his discourse might even undermine feminism as an emancipatory project. In this book, Jana Sawicki argues that a Foucaldian feminism is possible. She rejects the view that the power of the phallocentric is total. Instead, like Foucault, she sees discourse as ambiguous, a source of conflict. Emphasizing Foucault's later works, she fleshes out his undeveloped remarks about resistance in order to show how his discourse can be used to support specific liberation struggles, particularly those for sexual and reproductive freedom. At the same time she develops constructive critiques of certain tendencies in current feminist analyses that threaten to suppress differences among women. She looks at mothering theory and asks in a geneological vein, when did the idea of the mother as an emotional nurturer emerge?; and when did the idea of women's status as reproducer appear?
This book should be of interest to advanced students and lecturers of feminist theory and continental philosophy.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780415901888
Description
In this book, the author attempts to integrate previous work on Foucault with feminist theory. She expands discussion of feminism and sexual liberation, charts the impact of Foucault on humanistic studies, and picks up an aspect of the mothering theme, the question of new reproductive technologies.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Note on the text -- Introduction. Disciplining Foucault: -- Personal Reflections1. Foucault and Feminism: -- Toward a Politics of Difference -- 2. Identity Politics and Sexual Freedom -- 3. Feminism and the Power of Foucauldian Discourse: Foucault and Mothering Theory -- 4. Disciplining Mothers: Feminism and the New Reproductive Technologies -- 5. Foucault and Feminism: -- A Critical Reappraisal -- Notes -- Index --
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