As a Woman I Have no Country: Dislocations of National and Gender Identities Across and Beyond European Borders

Autorka artykułu porusza tematykę braku politycznej reprezentacji kobiet. Zestawia socjologiczno-kulturowe pojęcie płci żeńskiej ( oraz związaną z nią tzw. kobiecość zachowań) z obywatelstwem i tożsamością narodową. Dyskusja tego zestawienia ujawnia ho[1]mogeniczny charakter narodu (nacji) i marginalne znaczenie, jakie przypisuje się w nim płci. Pokazuje również, że specyfika reprezentacji kobiet w społeczeństwie oraz wypływające z niej tzw. naturalne zachowania płci żeńskiej powiązane są ściśle z symboliką przypisywaną biologicznemu wymiarowi różnicy między płciami. Autorka postuluje konieczność formułowania dyslokacji tożsamościowych oraz podkreśla rolę, jaką feminizm europejski odgrywa w zakreślaniu problemu kobiecej nieobecności w polityczno-ekonomicznym wymiarze narodowościowym

Fantasies of Gender and the Witch in Feminist Theory and Literature

In Fantasies of Gender and the Witch in Feminist Theory and Literature, Justyna Sempruch analyzes contemporary representations of the “witch” as a locus for the cultural negotiation of genders. Sempruch revisits some of the most prominent traits in past and current perceptions in feminist scholarship of exclusion and difference. She examines a selection of twentieth-century US American, Canadian, and European narratives to reveal the continued political relevance of metaphors sustained in the archetype of the “witch” widely thought to belong to pop-cultural or folkloristic formulations of the past. Through a critical rereading of the feminist texts engaging with these metaphors, Sempruch develops a new concept of the witch, one that challenges traditional gender-biased theories linking it either to a malevolent “hag” on the margins of culture or to unrestrained “feminine” sexual desire. Sempruch turns, instead, to the causes for radical feminist critique of “feminine” sexuality as a fabrication of logocentric thinking and shows that the problematic conversion of the “hag” into a “superwoman” can be interpreted today as a therapeutic performance translating fixed identity into a site of continuous negotiation of the subject in process. Tracing the development of feminist constructs of the witch from 1970s radical texts to the present, Sempruch explores the early psychoanalytical writings of Cixous, Kristeva, and Irigaray, and feminist reformulations of identity by Butler and Braidotti, with fictional texts from different political and cultural contexts.https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ccs/1004/thumbnail.jp

Fantasies of Gender and the Witch in Feminist Theory and Literature

In her book Fantasies of Gender and the Witch in Feminist Theory and Literature, Justyna Sempruch analyses contemporary representations of the "witch" as a locus for the cultural negotiation of genders. Sempruch revisits some of the most prominent traits in past and current perceptions in feminist scholarship of exclusion and difference

Intercultural dialogues on gender, marginality and higher education

Many scholars ask today whether there is a need for a common political frontier especially in its insistence on such prerequisites as gender. There is the feeling of political amnesia and individual inability to challenge the pervasive and continuously patriarchal power structures of governments, international corporations, and therefore also educational practices. Education is power, beyond doubt, but what kind of education, whose knowledge and whose interests are being represented, we still need to ask. Gender for that matter is not the only variable affecting educational experiences around the world. Now, that the ‘Western’ notion of global sisterhood, based on the belief that all women share an experience of oppression, has been abandoned, there is little basis for gender solidarity. In the light of such reflection, we attempt to address the feminist pedagogy of location with respect to the meaning of a ‘common ground’ in feminist knowledge, and how it affects the educational tactics of self-positioning, the very requirement for autonomous subject. Although volumes have been researched on the topic of gender, the power relations constructing the many categories that intersect with gender continue to trouble feminist inquiry: race, ethnicity, age, physical ability, dialect, citizenship, geographical location, religion, class, sexual preferences... One thing to admit is that no matter how much inclusiveness is at stake, the list of marginalities remains unexhausted. Judith Butler has referred to this once in terms of “the embarrassing etc. at the end of the list” (1991), and this position is relevant to our intercultural discussion. In this vein, to encompass multiple marginalities is indeed an impossible mission, invariably failing to be complete, but we do not believe to stop at this exhaustion.Peer Reviewe

The International narcotics control board strains its limited credibility

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) issued its Annual Report this week. The INCB, a body of independent experts based at the UN, ostensibly issues the document to provide a yearly update on the functioning of the international drug control system. In practice, however, the reports are used as a mechanism to criticise states that deviate from repressive and supply-oriented international drug policies