things from Spivak that stuck out in my mind

[postmodern_hysteric]

"Between patriarchy and imperialism, subject-constitution and object-formation, the figure of the woman disappears, not into a pristine nothingness, but into a violent shuttling which is the displaced figuration of the "thrid-world woman" caught between tradition and modernization"

"The subaltern cannot speak. There is no virtue in global laundry lists with "woman" as a pious item. Representation has not withered away. The female intellectual as intellectual has a circumscribed task whihc she must not disown with a flourish"

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's "Can The Subaltern Speak?" is the hardest thing I have ever read. call me crazy, but I even enjoyed reading it. Spivka referred to Foucault, Deleuze, Guattari, Freud, Marx, Derrida, Heidegger quite a bit. When reading her references to these thinkers I felt that I was missing something important. I am somewhat familiar with Freud and Marx, and have some idea of what Foucault did, but that is about it. Reading more of these people may or may not have given much insight to what Spivak said. I think what will be most helpful are discussion in class. While I found Spivak’s ideas quite interesting, I found her to be quiet unaccessible at times. Lisa says that we will Spivak’s ideas will constantly be brought up again in the other essays we will be reading. Maybe I will have more insight then.

Comments

Social Science Sex

[antipoet.livejournal.com]

Oh I am going to love love love talking social science jargon with you when I get back from england. I have never read Spivak. Do you agree with her? I am utopian and I settle only for absolute equality. How is that class on sexuality going?

Right now I am reading Freud's "interpretation of dreams". Sexuality is such a sticky subject (no pun intended) I really wish that I didn't have such a vehement reaction to reading generalizations baised on sex; ie "female children have penis envy". GRRR.

[rayjindemon.livejournal.com]

How come men that are masognist should be ashamed and women that are feminist should be proud?

[synapsepi.livejournal.com]

That is a not well formulated question. A misogynist is somebody who Hates women, there for, a misogynist could also be a woman, it is not a term that designates the person female or male, it is gender neutral, other than the fact the person hates "women". A Feminist is many things, but has nothing to do with hating people. It has to do with empowerment, choice, and equality. The media and various other groups of people have as a whole demonized feminism and feminists to be lesbian man hatters. Lesbianism has nothing to do with hating men, and either does feminism. I suppose a person could be a feminist and might hate men, but in general, feminism isn't about hating. I became a feminist after being raped twice and sexually abused another handful of times in other ways. It was something that gave me the strength I needed to go on with my life. If I am a bad person for finding strength in that, then the rest of the world can go fuck itself. I will not apologize for my choices and belief systems, and I will not sit by and allow peoples ignorance turn my strength into something evil.