Feminism and the New Democracy

Introduction PART ONE: NATIONAL VICTIMS - `Siting/Citing/Sighting the New Democracy' `Flowers from the Volcano' - Kathleen B Jones The Politics of Responsibility and Perspectives on Violence against Women Feminism of the North and West for Export - Zillah Eisenstein Transnational Capital and the Racializing of Gender Exilic Affinities - Kate Mehuron Diasporic Coalitions in an Epidemic Forgotten History - Karen Engle and Ranjana Khanna Myth, Empathy, and Assimilated Culture See No Evil, Speak No Evil - Renata Salecl Hate Speech and Human Rights PART TWO: PRACTICISING COALITIONS Equality, Difference and Democracy - Nancy Fraser Recent Feminist Debates in the United States Constructing/Deconstructing `Women' - Manisha Desai Reflections from the Contemporary Women's Movement in India (Be)Coming Out - Shane Phelan Lesbian Identity and Politics Genealogical Feminism - Lee Quinby A Politic Way of Looking PART THREE: BODILY LOCATIONS Spare Parts, Family Values, Old Children, Cheap - Patricia J Williams The Regulation of Lesbian Sexuality through Erasure - Anna Marie Smith The Case of Jennifer Saunders Performing Theory - Shannon Bell Socrates, Sam, Kate and Scarlot PART FOUR: DEMOCRATIC REFLECTIONS Gender Hierarchy, Equality, and the Possibility of Democracy - Drucilla Cornell Musing as a Feminist in a Postfeminist Era - Patricia S Mann The Reflective Solidarity of Democratic Feminism - Jodi Dean

`A most welcome addition to any political theory course' - Political Studies `Jodi Dean has compiled an exciting collection of essays that display and advance contemporary feminist contributions to democratic theory and politics. "Feminism" emerges in this volume in dazzling varieties of critical and constructive engagement with "the political". Every essay is a gem. Together, they exemplify the new democratic ethos of solidarity based on a committed engagement and respectful disagreement' - Christine Di Stefano, University of Washington `An impressive and important collection of work by some of the most important feminist theorists writing today' - Judith Grant, University of Southern California `Writing from within a broad spectrum of theoretical positions, the contributors to this volume inspire a nuanced reflection on feminist thought and strategies at the end of the twentieth century. The essays illustrate the possibility of embracing the complexities of contemporary politics and identities in such a way that enjoys the ability to analyze the specific, while maintaining a critical optimism about the wider goals of theory and politics. With their avoidance of easy solutions, and by re-directing us to an examination of feminist argument and interpretation, these essays are theoretically sophisticated, inspirational and often moving' - Vikki Bell, Goldsmiths College, University of London