1st Edition

Identity Politics in Deconstruction Calculating with the Incalculable

By Carolyn D'Cruz Copyright 2008
    140 Pages
    by Routledge

    140 Pages
    by Routledge

    Identity politics dominates the organisation of liberation movements today. This is the case whether fighting over one's birthright to a nation, such as in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict; lobbying for civil rights, such as in gay and lesbian campaigns for marriage; or struggling for citizenry recognition as currently experienced by asylum seekers. In this book Carolyn D'Cruz investigates the nexus between what David Birch describes as ’the seemingly impossible of high theory and the seemingly accessible possibilities of popular discourse’, as encountered in liberation movements based on identity. D'Cruz reworks the logic of such movements through the unique combination of Derridean deconstruction, Foucauldian discourse and Levinasian ethics. Moving both within and between the domains of philosophy, politics and ’postmodern culture’ this book offers both a clear explication of complex philosophical issues and an understanding of how they relate to the political practicalities of everyday life.

    Contents: Preface; Introduction; 'What matter who's speaking?'; Between experience and epistemology; Choosing one's heritage: between philosophy and politics; Truth law and justice: responding to the stolen generations in the disadjusted time of the present; Welcome stranger: democracy , autoimmunity and hospitality; Bibliography; Index.

    Biography

    Dr Carolyn D'Cruz is a Lecturer in Gender, Sexuality and Diversity Studies at La Trobe University, Australia.