Ambivalence as a Feminist Project.

This essay argues that the concept of ambivalence could be leveraged as a feminist project with specific epistemological value for scholars across the humanities and social sciences. Curating its recent appearance across several areas of study, we suggest the potential of ambivalence as a feminist a...

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Publicado en:Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society Vol. 49; no. 4; pp. 779 - 806
Autores principales: Coccia, Emily, Harris, Lisa H., McClelland, Sara, Morales, Cecilia, Purkiss, Ava, Sanok, Catherine, Sherley, Eshe, Traub, Valerie
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: University of Chicago Press Summer2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      aug:
        au:
          Coccia, Emily
          Harris, Lisa H.
          McClelland, Sara
          Morales, Cecilia
          Purkiss, Ava
          Sanok, Catherine
          Sherley, Eshe
          Traub, Valerie
        affil:
          Departments of English and Women's and Gender Studies. University of Michigan
          Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women's and Gender Studies. University of Michigan
          Departments of Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies. University of Michigan
          Sundborg Center for Community Engagement. Seattle University
          American Culture Program and Department of Women's and Gender Studies. University of Michigan
          Department of English Language and Literature. University of Michigan
          African American Studies Program. Wake Forest University
          Departments of English Language and Literature and Women's and Gender Studies. University of Michigan
      su:
        Ambivalence
        Feminists
        Scholarly method
        Skepticism
        Emotions
        Affect (Psychology)
        Research personnel
      sug:
        subj:
          Ambivalence
          Feminists
          Scholarly method
          Skepticism
          Emotions
          Affect (Psychology)
          Research personnel
      ab: This essay argues that the concept of ambivalence could be leveraged as a feminist project with specific epistemological value for scholars across the humanities and social sciences. Curating its recent appearance across several areas of study, we suggest the potential of ambivalence as a feminist analytic. We argue that this analytic may help feminist scholars understand the complexity of texts, people, and social circumstances—both past and present—because it offers a conceptual category that holds space for conflicting emotions, contending historical phenomena, and overlapping affective, ethical, and political commitments. We see unique value for feminist scholarship when ambivalence is foregrounded; it asks us to consider important tensions and binaries between subjection and liberation, certainty and uncertainty, and skepticism and conviction. Reconceptualizing ambivalence as a capacity and structural condition (rather than an individual deficiency or failing), we render this concept legible for feminists across various fields and disciplines. We propose three principles that could guide its uptake in scholarship: troubling the subjection/liberation binary, elevating the value of uncertainty, and encouraging constructive ambivalence in the researcher themself. While mindful of the risks and limits of ambivalence, we encourage others to adopt ambivalence as an analytic in their own work, describing the specific gains to be had in affectively and epistemologically sitting with the contradictions and discomforts it reveals.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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