Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory, Second Edition, May 2011
For more than fifteen years, Nomadic Subjects has guided discourse in continental philosophy and feminist theory, exploring the constitution of contemporary subjectivity, especially the concept of difference within European philosophy and political theory. Rosi Braidotti’s creative style vividly renders a productive crisis of modernity. From a feminist perspective, she recasts embodiment, sexual difference, and complex concepts through relations to technology, historical events, and popular culture.
This thoroughly revised and expanded edition retains all but two of Braidotti’s original essays, including her investigations into epistemology’s relation to the “woman question;” feminism and biomedical ethics; European feminism; and the possible relations between American feminism and European politics and philosophy. A new piece integrates Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the “becoming-minoritarian” more deeply into modern democratic thought, and a chapter on methodology explains Braidotti’s methods while engaging with her critics. A new introduction muses on Braidotti’s provocative legacy.
This thoroughly revised and expanded edition retains all but two of Braidotti’s original essays, including her investigations into epistemology’s relation to the “woman question;” feminism and biomedical ethics; European feminism; and the possible relations between American feminism and European politics and philosophy. A new piece integrates Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the “becoming-minoritarian” more deeply into modern democratic thought, and a chapter on methodology explains Braidotti’s methods while engaging with her critics. A new introduction muses on Braidotti’s provocative legacy.
Introduction
1. By Way of Nomadism
2. Context and Generations
3. Sexual Difference Theory
4. On the Female Feminist Subject: From “She-Self” to “She-Other”
5. Sexual Difference as a Nomadic Political Project
6. Organs Without Bodies
7. Images Without Imagination
8. Mothers, Monsters, and Machines
9. Discontinuous Becomings: Deleuze and the Becoming-Woman of Philosophy
10. Envy and Ingratitude: Men in Feminism
11. Conclusion: Geometries of Passion—a Conversation
Rosi Braidotti was born in Italy, raised in Australia, graduated from the Sorbonne in Paris, and became the founding professor of the women’s studies program in Utrecht. She is Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University and founding director of its Centre for the Humanities.
"Braidotti’s conceptual analysis is more relevant now than ever. Written in her inimitable style, this second edition lays out the conceptual foundations Braidotti’s later writing puts to work." — Amy Allen, Dartmouth College
"This second edition reestablishes Braidotti as one of the most vibrant and important thinkers in poststructuralist feminism and adds to the first edition’s key essays a selection of more recent work, concluding with an in-depth interview that clearly and frankly relates Braidotti’s perspective to other positions in feminism, queer theory, and identity politics." — Eugene W. Holland, Ohio State University
"This book exceeds the hyperboles one wants to draw upon to describe great books. By its title alone,Nomadic Subjects promises to avoid the clichés, oppositions, and warring political divides that have come to mark theory. Critical of the glibness of the present yet avoiding easy nostalgia or utopianism, Braidotti’s work signals a new style adequate for twenty-first century horizons. Hers is a nomadic theory, refusing to be anchored in any camp or tradition yet a remarkable affirmation of the subject, even if that subject bears none of the usual (and now rather tiresome) attributes of self-possession, self-reflection, and self-consciousness. For anyone who feels somewhat jaded or beleaguered by theory, this book is a tonic, sounding the tone of the future." — Claire Colebrook, Penn State University
"This second edition reestablishes Braidotti as one of the most vibrant and important thinkers in poststructuralist feminism and adds to the first edition’s key essays a selection of more recent work, concluding with an in-depth interview that clearly and frankly relates Braidotti’s perspective to other positions in feminism, queer theory, and identity politics." — Eugene W. Holland, Ohio State University
"This book exceeds the hyperboles one wants to draw upon to describe great books. By its title alone,Nomadic Subjects promises to avoid the clichés, oppositions, and warring political divides that have come to mark theory. Critical of the glibness of the present yet avoiding easy nostalgia or utopianism, Braidotti’s work signals a new style adequate for twenty-first century horizons. Hers is a nomadic theory, refusing to be anchored in any camp or tradition yet a remarkable affirmation of the subject, even if that subject bears none of the usual (and now rather tiresome) attributes of self-possession, self-reflection, and self-consciousness. For anyone who feels somewhat jaded or beleaguered by theory, this book is a tonic, sounding the tone of the future." — Claire Colebrook, Penn State University
