Νομαδικά Υποκείμενα: Ενσωματότητα και Έμφυλη Διαφορά στη Σύγχρονη Φεμινιστική Θεωρία

Gender and Culture Series

by Rosi Braidotti

- Τι σημαίνει νομαδικό υποκείμενο και πώς τοποθετείται μέσα στις παρούσες κοινωνικές και οικονομικές μεταλλάξεις;
- Ποιες είναι οι πολιτικές και ηθικές προϋποθέσεις που δομούν τη νομαδική υποκειμενικότητα;
- Πως σχετίζεται το νομαδικό υποκείμενο με την κρίση της μετανεωτερικότητας και με την έννοια της "διαφοράς";
- Που μπορούμε να εντοπίσουμε νέα θεωρητικά και πολιτικά παραδείγματα που θα μας συνδράμουν στην επεξεργασία δημιουργικών σχημάτων σκέψης;
- Από που εκπορεύεται "το νέο";
Ακολουθώντας τη διεισδυτική ματιά της μεταδομιστικής γενιάς από την οπτική της έμφυλης διαφοράς και αντλώντας έμπνευση από τη σκέψη του Σπινόζα, του Νίτσε, του Μπερξόν, του Φουκώ, του Ντελέζ και της Ιριγκαραί, η Μπραϊντόττι τοποθετεί τη νομαδική υποκειμενικότητα στο επίκεντρο του φιλοσοφικού, κριτικού και φεμινιστικού της στοχασμού. Διατηρώντας έναν συνεχή διάλογο με τη μεταποικιοκρατική θεωρία και τη θεωρία της φυλής, έννοιες όπως η φαντασία, το πάθος, η δημιουργικότητα, το σώμα, η επιθυμία, η σχεσιακότητα, η συναισθηματικότητα, η διαισθητική κατανόηση έρχονται στο προσκήνιο με σκοπό να διαταράξουν τα λιμνάζοντα νερά της διανοητικής καθίζησης της εποχής μας. Παραμένοντας πιστή στο εγχείρημά της για κριτικό επανασχεδιασμό της (γυναικείας) υποκειμενικότητας πέρα από την αποθέωση του αρνητικού, υιοθετεί με συνέπεια τη φεμινιστική πολιτική της θέσης και με γνώμονα τη χαρτογραφική μέθοδο πραγματεύεται την πολιτική σημασία του φιλοσοφικού νομαδισμού με σκοπό την επίτευξη διανοητών και χειραφετικών εναλλακτικών τρόπων ύπαρξης και επιθυμίας. Από αυτή την οπτική, εκείνο που χρειαζόμαστε για την πολιτική φαντασία είναι ένα ποιοτικό άλμα. (Από την παρουσίαση στο οπισθόφυλλο του βιβλίου)

Genres: Feminism, Philosophy, Theory, Feminist Theory, Gender, Nonfiction, Sexuality

488 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1994

Reviews

[Emm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been the single most important work I have ever read. Every single woman should read Nomadic Subjects. It is beautifully written and is a great text for catching up on the history and progression of feminism. Although it was written in 1994, it still feels incredibly topical and moving (which is a little sad to realize how little progress has been made)--but the power of the book is its positivism and encouragement.

Beautiful ideas, beautiful writing. Reading this is a religious experience.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating combo of post-structural feminism and Deleuzian nomadism- I am beginning to think I am a nomadic feminist! I love the ways in which she writes this Ina cartographic style.

[Sara Uribe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta otra manera de escribir y hacer pensamiento feminista definitivamente me cimbró.

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suffers from cultural studies, benefits from good reading of Irigaray, Foucault, Deleuze. Does feel up to date w an appropriately rigorous handling of sex, assigned gender, sexuality.

[Eve]

skimmed quite a few of the chapters :( but definitely an interesting read, did feel like an in-depth background of psychoanalysis and theoretical stuff was needed for a fair bit of this. Mine is pretty basic.

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time this irritated me, I tried to remind myself it was written in 1994. I quarrelled with it a lot of this "we have to reclaim our womanness" type discourse which slipped into unexamined heterosexuality/complementarity here and there. To be fair though I think Braidotti works hard to get past that in the last 2 chapters and she seems to acknowledge that her feminism is a work-in-progress feminism not a finished feminism (nor is mine I guess). So I will guess that some of what seems ordinary now was unthinkable then (I was a baby of 20 anyway).

I also smirked for some of it at the way she keeps crushing on Irigaray and at one point where she's being too essentiallist I actually scribbled "what the Irigaray?" in the margin which probably sets me apart from the adults in the academy alas :/

To be fair though, Braidotti gives me a whole broadened horizon of things to read, music to listen to etc. Maybe Spivak next? She's knowledgeable, she has read so much and I found her summaries of things interesting and useful even if I also rage-journalled after some sections (maybe I can do something with that). After the way I dismissed Foucault as a "wanker" and then had to come back to him later I want to be careful not to assume I am smarter than these big names.

Not sure what is "new" about this as an example of "new materialism" tho...

This is definitely useful, perhaps as a point of departure. It's been a trip!

[Joss Morfitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant use of Deleuze and Guattari’s work in the construction of ‘nomadic bodies’ (an altogether queer project, even if Braidotti wouldn’t like to admit this) but unfortunately its appeals to sexual difference, particularly on the level of materialism, feel anachronistic and exclusionary. Braidotti talks in length at her aversion (and thus preclusion) to the idea of men in feminism, as well as of the constrictive identitarian ideologies underpinning the ‘transsexual paradigm’—do these ideas not contradict the radical philosophical project of nomadism? Or rather, do they not operate to inhibit is radical potential? Braidotti at once calls for a Deleuzian multiplication of sexed subjectivities and yet simultaneously perpetuates a rigid binarism predicated on ‘sexual difference’—meanwhile, she lambasts trans people (albeit implicitly) for their valorisation and bodily ‘complicity’ with this material duality. The work, for all its brilliant insight, feels distinctly second-wave—queer(er) readings are needed. Women’s voices and femininity don’t have to be in opposition to the post-identitarian paradigm!

[Nadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to read this book at least once more, but probably twice. My favourite part was about monsters, mothers and machines:

"the monstrous other is both liminal and structurally central to our perception of normal human subjectivity."

"Monsters posit, in all its complexity, the issue of what constitutes a proper, objective object of scientific inquiry" [..] is objective scientific knowledge of monsters possible?”

[Nadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading - 11th of April 2022

"In contrast to the oppositions created by a dualistic mode of social constructivism, a nomadic body is a threshold of transformations. "

"blurring boundaries without burning bridges"

"Not all nomads are world travelers; some of the greatest trips can take place without physically moving from one’s habitat. Consciousness-raising and the subversion of set conventions
define the nomadic state, not the literal act of traveling."

[Ola Hol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring, informative. At times very challenging to me. I needed to read it closely so it took me a while, but it was worth it. Even though she draws on Deleuze, the writing style is hardly "rhizomatic" - feels well structured, a systematic overwiview of certain key pholosophies and her proposals.

[Pasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leí este libro para un trabajo de investigación y tuve que saltear algunos capítulos porque no tenía tiempo, pero es súper interesante y voy a releerlo en el futuro. Me dio muchas ganas de leer más filósofas y teóricas feministas. Aguante el female gaze.

#grlpwr

[LaanSiBB]

It's always unique and difficult to walk a different path, Braidott is neither the "feminist on the ground" nor "merely doing" continental philosophy, but trying to provide differences in genealogical structure of subjectivity, existence and ontology.

[Giulia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall an excellent and still very relevant book. Only knocked off a star because it can get a little repetitive and the editor within me always feels the need to rework what I read into a more neat product.

[Lanzdybek · Rating 3 out of 5]

3'75

[vika s. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nomadic subjects" was my first book by Rosi Braidotti, so I was very excited to read it, but in the end I have mixed feelings. Although I meet Braidotti at many points I have several crucial issues with the book.
First, I was expecting a different language. Braidotti claims to be an adept of feminism which is close to real life women's experiences. But her own language, apart from language in her rather short personal accounts, is very complex and definitely doesn't give a chance to amateur feminists like myself who want to inform their activism by the feminist theory, to comprehend all the complexities of philosophical language. This is the language of the old boys' philosophical club, the language of male "Pheminist" philosophers, and it seems to me that Braidotti speaks to them rather than to her fellow feminists on the ground. Even if she does, not many (especially from unprivileged backgrounds/ for whom English and French are not the first languages). I understand that her book is not meant to be a feminist activist's toolkit , but I felt like it just alienates me from my daily feminist practice rather than informs it. I hope someone will be able to construct a new language, different from that created and mainstreamed by male philosophers, the language that will fight power structures and privilege-barriers between the author and her readers.
Another one which I really don't get is Braidotti's stance on what can construct identity. In her interview with Andrijasevic she claims that she doesn't believe that sexuality can construct identity. At the same time what is sexual difference theory if not constructing an identity of a feminist based on her identity as a woman? So, does it mean that Braidotti claims that only gender but not sexuality can be a key to identity? And how can she be critical to the institution of identity itself if her stance as a European Deleuzian gay middle class feminist is stated so insistently throughout the book? Maybe it's just a misunderstanding on my side, so I would be happy to read other readers' perspectives on it.
Overall I still enjoyed the book, and I am keen to explore more on nomadic subjects.

[Laurie Neighbors · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 1994 and still deeply relevant and instructive today -- as an approach not only for women's studies/feminist theory but for other types of intellectual and political constructions of the self as subject/object. Braidotti discusses high theory and foundational feminist theory in a style that is accessible and, dare I say, fun. A humorful feminist?

Don't skip the last chapter, in which Braidotti brings in Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Nina Hagen, Crass, the Au Pairs, and Laurie Anderson to build out her conclusion.

Some final words of wisdom: "Those who thus dismiss feminist theory have never bothered to read any of the founding texts of this tradition, and they add arrogance to ignorance by sitting on judgement upon a field they are not qualified to assess. What remains constant in the antifeminist line is that women are judged insufficient either by lack (not enough theoretical power) or by excess (too much theory); the result is the same."

Lovers of high theory, dismisssers of second-wave contributions, and single-aisle thinkers, come travel with the nomads for a while and see what it's all about.

[Elisatlfsse · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was an awful lot, but I'm finished with Nomadic Subject!!
21 pages of notes later, I'll hopefully be able to bring all the interesting pieces in an essay very soon!