Inspired by Claire Colebrook’s claim that Genevieve Lloyd, Elizabeth Grosz and Moira Gatens together make up a distinctive “Australian” feminism, this course aims to introduce students to the works of these three feminist philosophers. Each in their own (overlapping) ways, Lloyd, Grosz and Gatens theorise the body differently to the linguistic approach made so famous by Judith Butler and of near doxa status within contemporary circles of feminist theory. Lloyd, Grosz and Gatens attempt, like Butler, to theorise subjectivity beyond questioning women’s essential sameness or difference to men. Unlike Butler, however, for whom the body is an effect of representation, each of these Australian feminist philosophers theorises the body as ‘possessing a force and being that marks the character of representation as such’ (Colebrook, 2000, p. 77). But what is this force, exactly? And what is this being? In this course, we will respond to these and other related questions through engagement with Lloyd’s The Man of Reason, Grosz’s Volatile Bodies and Gatens’ Imaginary Bodies. This course does not intend to make any definitive claims about an Australian feminist philosophy ‘canon’ but rather seeks to increase awareness of, and access to, the intellectual contributions of three important Australian feminist philosophers.
Week one: The Man of Reason
Required readings
- Lloyd, G. (1993). The man of reason : male and female in Western philosophy (Second edition.). University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203423240
Recommended readings
- Lloyd, G. (1989). Woman as other: Sex, gender and subjectivity. Australian Feminist Studies, 4(10), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.1989.9961649
- Colebrook, C. (2000). From Radical Representations to Corporeal Becomings: The Feminist Philosophy of Lloyd, Grosz, and Gatens. Hypatia, 15(2), 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2000.tb00315.x
Week two: Volatile Bodies I
Required readings
- Grosz, E. A. (1994). Refiguring Bodies. In Volatile bodies : toward a corporeal feminism. Allen & Unwin.
- Grosz, E. (1987). Notes towards a corporeal feminism. Australian Feminist Studies, 2(5), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.1987.9961562
Recommended readings
- Butler, J. (1990/2007). Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire. In Gender Trouble. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203824979-3
- Colebrook, C. (2000). From Radical Representations to Corporeal Becomings: The Feminist Philosophy of Lloyd, Grosz, and Gatens. Hypatia, 15(2), 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2000.tb00315.x
Week three: Volatile Bodies II
Required readings
- Grosz, E. A. (1994). Sexed Bodies. In Volatile bodies : toward a corporeal feminism. Allen & Unwin.
- Gross, E. (1986). [Rev. of Irigaray and sexual difference]. Australian Feminist Studies, 1(2), 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164650.1986.10382925
Recommended readings
- Butler, J. (1993). Introduction. In Bodies that matter : on the discursive limits of “sex.” Routledge.
- Braidotti, R. (1993). Embodiment, Sexual Difference, and the Nomadic Subject. Hypatia, 8(1), 1–13. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3810298
- Colebrook, C. (2000). From Radical Representations to Corporeal Becomings: The Feminist Philosophy of Lloyd, Grosz, and Gatens. Hypatia, 15(2), 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2000.tb00315.x
Week four: Imaginary Bodies I
Required readings
- Gatens, M. (1996). A critique of the sex/gender distinction. In Imaginary Bodies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203418659-2
- Gatens, M. (1996). Corporeal representation in/and the body politic. In Imaginary Bodies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203418659-3
- Gatens, M. (1996). Woman and her double(s): Sex, gender and ethics. In Imaginary Bodies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203418659-4
Recommended readings
- Gatens, M. (1991). Feminism and philosophy : perspectives on difference and equality. Polity.
- Colebrook, C. (2000). From Radical Representations to Corporeal Becomings: The Feminist Philosophy of Lloyd, Grosz, and Gatens. Hypatia, 15(2), 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2000.tb00315.x
Week five: Imaginary Bodies II
Required readings
- Gatens, M. (1996). Towards a feminist philosophy of the body. In Imaginary Bodies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203418659-6
- Gatens, M. (1996). Epilogue. In Imaginary Bodies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203418659-13
Recommended readings
- Gatens, M. (1991). Feminism and philosophy : perspectives on difference and equality. Polity.
- Colebrook, C. (2000). From Radical Representations to Corporeal Becomings: The Feminist Philosophy of Lloyd, Grosz, and Gatens. Hypatia, 15(2), 76–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2000.tb00315.x