1st Edition
Feminist Views from Somewhere Post-Jungian themes in feminist theory
Feminist Views from Somewhere: Post-Jungian Themes in Feminist Theory explores what and how Jungian thought contributes to feminist thinking. Broadly speaking, feminist thinking, or thinking by and about women as autonomous, intelligent and independent agents, has opened up scholarship through insightful, reflective critique and practice. This is the starting point of this collection from a range of theorists, interested in the multiple concerns of Jungian and analytical psychology.
The contributors take a unique approach to Jungian thinking. Rather than focusing on its mythological aspects, the authors develop alternative, feminist approaches that enhance the appreciation of the possibilities for Jungian and post-Jungian studies.
With a primarily theoretical orientation, the rigorous, critical approaches in the collection highlight the possibilities of imaginative Jungian theory. Divided into three parts, ‘Viewing Earth’, ‘Clinical Perspectives’ and ‘Literary Landscapes’, the chapters cover themes including embodiment, intersubjectivity, individuation and narrative. The contributors vividly reflect the range and diversity of opinions amongst women influenced by Jungian thought. Feminist Views from Somewhere is essential reading for academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies, women’s studies and gender studies, as well as analytical psychologists in practice and in training.
Introduction. Theme: Viewing Earth. Cowan, Women And Land: Reflections on Physicality. Dowd, Becoming Human: Changing Perspectives on Embodiment, the Two-Person Unconscious, Relational Trauma and possibilities for Psychic Change. Wyatt, Medial Women: Views from a Feminist Epistemologist. Theme: Clinical Perspectives. Austin, Working with a woman with binge eating disorder: building on Jung's dissociable psyche, Butler's ec-static self, and Laplanche's enigmatic signifier. Fuller, Emma Jung’s Pen: Jung, Feminism and the Body. Covington, In Search of the Heroine. Theme: Literary Landscapes. Rowland, Feminism, Jung and Transdisciplinarity: a Novel Approach. Nelson, Fierce Young Women in Popular Fiction and an Unpopular War. Gardner, Explorations in the poetics of the feminine pronoun. Appendix: Voices.
Biography
Leslie Gardner is director of Artellus Ltd, an international literary agency, and Visiting Fellow at the University of Essex, UK. Her previous publications include Rhetorical Investigations: G. B. Vico and C. G. Jung and House: The wounded healer on television (co-edited with Luke Hockley).
Frances Gray is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland, Australia. She is the author of the Routledge titles Jung, Irigaray, Individuation: Philosophy, analytical psychology and the question of the feminine, Cartesian Philosophy and the Flesh: Reflections on incarnation in analytical psychology, and Jung and Levinas: An Ethics of Mediation.
'Feminist Views from Somewhere offers us a rich and complex view of feminist theory and practice and the ties between them in a number of urgent settings with pressing, even burning, issues that those who remain committed feminists must face. But the richness and theoretical complexity of the book makes it not only a must read for feminists but also anyone interested in the interdisciplinary crossroads at which feminist theory and practice finds itself.' - Drucilla Cornell, Rutgers University, USA and co-author of The Spirit of Revolution: Beyond the Dead Ends of Man
‘A subtle yet ringing challenge to those involved in academic, political and artistic feminist praxis to drop their prejudices and take a(nother) look at Jungian ideas as these have evolved over the years. Problems with sexism and heteronormativity have not stopped an analogous engagement with Freud, Lacan and psychoanalysis from taking place. We see clearly that Jungian feminist thinking and acting is, by now, far more elaborate than explicating the goddess in every woman or exhortation to run with the wolves (without forgetting that these earlier approaches have benefited millions of women). What this next-generation collection of richly diverse voices compels us to notice is that there is now the knowledge and the motivation within the scholarly Jungian world to make a rigorous, distinct yet comprehensive contribution to feminist thinking.’ – Andrew Samuels, Professor of Analytical Psychology, University of Essex, UK
‘With this potent assembly of women’s voices that expound a vision of social transformation, Leslie Gardner and Frances Gray have crafted a vibrant and indispensable contribution to contemporary dialogues between Jungian studies, feminism, and gender studies.
Collectively, the contributors to this volume argue for the liberation of woman from the paternal and masculine assumptions of Jungian psychology, with its often antiquated and harmful definitions of femininity. True to their argument, each articulates their own individual concerns for a reworking of Jungian psychology to acknowledge the unique specifics of a woman’s experience in her encounters with psyche, body, and society.’ - Dr Lucy Huskinson, School of Philosophy & Religion, Bangor University, U.K., and co-Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Jungian Studies
'Feminist Views from Somewhere is remarkable in that it presents a plurality of feminine voices without imposing a direction that would have served some strategic editorial aim. This is reflected in the appendix, which relates a debate that took place on the webforum of the International Association of Jungian Studies. Such freedom allows the reader to find gems and a wealth of new expression and ideas in the field of feminism and psychology.' - Nathalie Pilard, The Journal of Analytical Psychology
