Abstract
Our study examines how an often dismissed affect, ambivalence, holds immense value for feminist humanistic inquiry as an analytic and an epistemological orientation toward our objects of study. Our joint paper presents ambivalence as a feminist project—one that helps us better understand the complexity of texts, people, and social circumstances by offering a conceptual category that holds space for conflicting emotions, contending historical phenomena, and intricate social dynamics. We aim to recuperate ambivalence against critiques that suggest it is merely a problem to be (re)solved—its ongoing presence read as proof of political inertia, moral enervation, or behavioral deficiency. Reconceptualizing ambivalence as an affective capacity, this paper renders ambivalence legible for feminist studies scholars across various humanities disciplines by proposing four principles: illuminating the interwoven projects of subjection and resistance, attending to complexity, embracing uncertainty, and resisting teleological narratives of progress. Our methods involve studying a range of primary and secondary feminist, queer, and anti-racist texts across several disciplines that explore, implicitly or explicitly, feelings or perceptions of ambivalence in oneself or others. Our close reading, textual analysis, and critical review of this literature enabled us to conceive of ambivalence as an emergent strand of feminist theorizing that is evolving to address affective, social, and political conditions. While mindful of the risks and limits of ambivalence, this paper encourages humanists to adopt ambivalence as an analytic in their own work, describing the specific gains to be had in “sitting with” the contradictions and discomforts ambivalence reveals.
Presenters
Ava PurkissAssistant Professor, Women's and Gender Studies and American Culture, University of Michigan, Michigan, United States Emily Coccia
Student, PhD Candidate, University of Michigan, Michigan, United States Catherine Sanok
Professor , English Language and Literature, University of Michigan, Michigan, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Feminism, Affect, Politics
