The Fantasy of Feminist History by Joan Wallach Scott (English) Paperback Book

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Joan Wallach Scott, a historian who helped to shape the fields of gender and womens history, argues for the usefulness of psychoanalytic concepts, particularly fantasy, for feminist historical analysis.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

In The Fantasy of Feminist History, Joan Wallach Scott argues that feminist perspectives on history are enriched by psychoanalytic concepts, particularly fantasy. Tracing the evolution of her thinking about gender over the course of her career, the pioneering historian explains how her search for ways to more forcefully insist on gender as mutable rather than fixed or stable led her to psychoanalytic theory, which posits sexual difference as an insoluble dilemma. Scott suggests that it is the futile struggle to hold meaning in place that makes gender such an interesting historical object, an object that includes not only regimes of truth about sex and sexuality but also fantasies and transgressions that refuse to be regulated or categorized. Fantasy undermines any notion of psychic immutability or fixed identity, infuses rational motives with desire, and contributes to the actions and events that come to be narrated as history. Questioning the standard parameters of historiography and feminist politics, Scott advocates fantasy as a useful, even necessary, concept for feminist historical analysis.

Notes

Eminent feminist historian Joan Scott gives an argument for the use of fantasy and psychoanalysis in feminist history. Like many historians, Scott once thought of psychoanalysis as too ahistorical. More recently she has come to see that if 'woman' or 'gender' are social categories that shift historically, that requires concepts of fantasy, contradiction and desire that are the domain of psychoanalysis. Without that, there would be no basis for collective desires for social change.

Author Biography

Joan Wallach Scott is the Harold F. Linder Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study. Her many books include The Politics of the Veil, Parité: Sexual Equality and the Crisis of French Universalism, Only Paradoxes to Offer: French Feminists and the Rights of Man, and Gender and the Politics of History.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments viIntroduction. "Flyers into the Unknown": Gender, History, Psychoanalysis 11. Feminism's History 232. Fantasy Echo: History and the Construction of Identity 453. Feminist Reverberations 684. Sexularism: On Secularism and Gender Equality 915. French Seduction Theory 117Epilogue. A Feminist Theory Archive 141Notes 149Bibliography 169Index 181

Review

"The Fantasy of Feminist History is Joan Wallach Scott's most important intervention in the field of gender history since her classic article of 1986. In her usual lucid prose, she invites us to rethink gender analysis in psychoanalytic terms and thus enrich our analytic vocabulary for understanding human existence. Her critiques of sexual difference and cultural construction dramatically change our notions of gender norms. Her elucidation of fantasy as a historical category of analysis is also groundbreaking. This book is a must-read for all historians and gender scholars." Mary Louise Roberts, author of Disruptive Acts: The New Woman in Fin-de-Siecle France "This elegant collection of Joan Wallach Scott's recent essays on feminist history and critique is her best book yet. Relentlessly pedagogical, bracingly reflexive, and breathtakingly creative, each essay makes good on the book's premise that 'psychoanalysis animates the concept of gender for historians.' The introduction - a perspicacious narrative of feminist theory's complex relationship with sexual difference and psychoanalysis - is worth its weight in gold, and the five essays that follow, on topics ranging from secularism to seduction theory, are polished gems of historical-theoretical inquiry. Together they reinvigorate feminist theory with brilliant new ideas, juxtapositions, and engagements." Wendy Brown, University of California, Berkeley

Promotional

Eminent feminist historian Joan Scott gives an argument for the use of fantasy and psychoanalysis in feminist history. Like many historians, Scott once thought of psychoanalysis as too ahistorical. More recently she has come to see that if 'woman' or 'gender' are social categories that shift historically, that requires concepts of fantasy, contradiction and desire that are the domain of psychoanalysis. Without that, there would be no basis for collective desires for social change.

Review Quote

"This is a provocative volume and will be of particular interest to those seeking a bridge between sociology's measurable quantities and psychology's emphasis on the unknowable. With connections to an array of disciplines including history, women's studies, literary theory, and psychology, it holds promise for broad reach across the academy." - On Campus with Women

Details ISBN0822351250 Author Joan Wallach Scott Short Title FANTASY OF FEMINIST HIST Pages 200 Language English ISBN-10 0822351250 ISBN-13 9780822351252 Media Book Format Paperback Publisher Duke University Press Imprint Duke University Press Place of Publication North Carolina Country of Publication United States Residence US Year 2011 Publication Date 2011-11-11 UK Release Date 2011-11-11 AU Release Date 2011-11-11 NZ Release Date 2011-11-11 US Release Date 2011-11-11 Series Next Wave Provocations DEWEY 305.4201 Audience Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly We've got this

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