Reclaiming Identity - Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism

Reclaiming Identity - Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism

Product ID: 8618

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Author: Paula M L Moya
Michael R Hames-Garcia/
Publisher: Orient Longman
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 354
ISBN/UPC (if available): 81 250 2165 5

Description

This bold and groundbreaking collection of essays argues that identity is not just socially constructed, but has real epistemic and political consequences for how people experience the world.

'Identity' is one of the most hotly debated topics in literary theory and cultural studies. This bold and groundbreaking collection of essays argues that identity is not just socially constructed, but has real epistemic and political consequences for how people experience the world. Advocating a 'post positivist realist' approach to identity, the essays examine the ways in which theory, politics, and activism clash with or complement each other, providing an alternative to the widely influential postmodernist understandings of identity. Although theoretical in orientation, this dynamic collection deals with specific social groups— Chicanas/or, African Americans, gay men and lesbians, Asian Americans, and others—and concrete social issues directly related to race, ethnicity, sexuality, epistemology, and political resistance.

Satya Mohanty's brilliant exegesis of Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' serves as a launching pad for the collection. The essays the follow address a range of topics—from the writings of Cherrie Moraga, Frantz Fanon, Joy Kogawa, and Michael Nava to the controversy surrounding racial program housing on college campuses.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Reclaiming Identity

THE REALIST THEORY OF IDENTITY AND THE REDICAMENT OF POSTMODERNISM
The Epistemic Status of Cultural Identity: On 'Beloved' and the Postcolonial Condition
Postmodernism, "Realism," and the politics of Identity: Cherrie Moraga and Chicana Feminism
"Who Are Our Own People?": Challenges for a Theory of Social Identity

POSTPOSITIVIST OBJECTIVITY: USES OF ERROR, VALUES, AND IDENTITY
On representing Others: Intellectuals, Pedagody, and the Uses of Error
"It Matters to Get the Facts Straight": Joy Kogawa, Realism, and Objectivity of Values
Racial Authenticity and White Separatism: The Future of Racial Program Housing on college Campuses

REALIST CONCEPTIONS OF AGENCY, EXPERIENCE, AND IDENTITY
Who Says Who Says?: The Epistemological Grounds for Agency in Liberatory Political Projects
Is There Something You Need to Tell Me?: Coming Out and the Ambiguity of Experience
Reading "Experience": The Debate in Intellectual History among Scott, Toews, and LaCapra
Who's Afraid of Identity Politics?

Contributors
Index