Product Description: Most readers of Louis Althusser first enter his work through his writings on ideology. In an important new essay Étienne Balibar, friend and colleague of Althusser, offers an original reading of Althusser’s idea of ideology, drawing on both recently published posthumous writing and Althusser's work on the Piccolo Teatro di Milano...read more

In this stimulating collection of essays, some of the most prominent critical thinkers in feminist studies address feminism's relationship to theory and politics at the level of the criticism and the production of knowledge.

Product Description: Distinguished contributors from a variety of disciplines and political positions look at the contemporary theoretical landscapes.

Product Description: This special issue of differences celebrates the work of the contemporary feminist literary critic and theorist Barbara Johnson, whose work has been revolutionary in foregrounding concepts of “difference.” Johnson’s is a unique method of literary reading in which literature becomes, in her words, “a mode of cultural work, the work of giving-to-read those impossible contradictions that cannot yet be spoken...read more

Product Description: In this special issue of differences, leading feminist theorists acknowledge Derrida’s contribution to feminist theory, discuss the crucial place of difference in both Derridian deconstruction and feminist theory, and reflect on the ethical, professional, and epistemological implications of Derrida’s thought for the discipline of women’s studies...read more

Product Description: This special issue of differences addresses the realization that "nature" and "nurture" are now seen to be inseparably and dynamically related in the determination of human cultural expression, rather than divided as previously thought...read more

Product Description: Drawing on sociology, political theory, feminism, history, and human rights law, the essays in this special issue of differences investigate the complex international sexual politics of France, Italy, Turkey, and Sudan and reveal the extent to which sexuality and its itinerant discourses are complexly embedded in the very meanings and operations of political institutions throughout the world...read more

Product Description: Twentieth-century ideologies, from liberalism to fascism, are rooted in humanism—the faith in the sovereignty of human reason and potential that grew out of Renaissance thought and discovery. This special issue asks if it is true that all vestiges of humanism have been dismantled, or whether humanism has taken on new forms...read more

Product Description: This book is a special issue of differences.

"... innovative and important thinking about the various relations between feminist theory, queer theory, and lesbian theory, as well as the possibility that liberation can be mutual rather than mutually exclusive." ―Lambda Book ReportWhen feminism meets queer theory, no introductions seem necessary. The two share common political interests―a concern for women’s and gay and lesbian rights―and many of the same academic and intellectual roots. And yet, they can also seem like strangers, needing mediation, translation, clarification. This volume focuses on the encounters of feminist and queer theories, on the ways in which basic terms such as "male" and "female," "man" and "woman," "black," "white," "sex," "gender," and "sexuality" change meaning as they move from one body of theory to another. Along with essays by Judith Butler, Evelynn Hammonds, Biddy Martin, Kim Michasiw, Carole-Anne Tyler, and Elizabeth Weed, there are interviews: Judith Butler engages Rosi Braidotti and Gayle Rubin in separate revealing discussions. And there are critical exchanges: Rosi Braidotti and Trevor Hope exchange comments on his reading of her work; and Teresa de Lauretis responds to Elizabeth Grosz’s review of her recent book. (view table of contents)

Product Description: What is essentialism? What is anti-essentialism? "The Essential Difference" attempts to answer questions at the heart of current feminist theory and cultural study. The book deals with origins and contexts of the debate; relationships between essentialism, anti-essentialism, and the power of language; reasons for the demonization of essentialism within the academy; and the relationship between essentialism and Third World studies...read more