Angie Voela

‘If not now, when?’: feminism, activism and social movements in the European South and beyond

The title and inspiration for this special issue emerged from an event: on 13 February 2011, nationwide demonstrations took place in various Italian cities, with over a million participants in total. They were coordinated by a group known as Se Non Ora Quando? (If not now, when?). The demonstrations voiced concerns about sexism and the urgent need to reassert women’s dignity, and renewed faith in the effectiveness of a coherent and vibrant feminist movement. There seems to be a pervasive feeling that feminism is now entering a new political era, as evidence of growing engagement from different countries seems to suggest (Motta et al. 2011). At the same time, it is said that the advance of neoliberalism and the indisputable gains in the last 30 years have resulted in de-politicisation and a decline of interest in feminism (Motta et al. 2011). The mainstreaming of feminism now raises concerns about its independent and autonomous existence; so much so that Walby (2011) finds it necessary to assert that feminism is not dead but simply taking new and less visible forms when embedded in civil society. Other feminists insist that several key issues remain unresolved; that the anti-capitalist struggle still remains inchoate; that feminism needs to renew their ideological struggles, and that no easy solutions lie ahead. With the above in mind, we invited prospective contributors to respond to the link between feminism, activism and education. Education and pedagogy were broadly defined as process of and engagement with knowledge and power in classroom and beyond. Likewise, we defined activism broadly, as embedded social behaviour that transforms networks (Martin, Hanson, and Fontaine 2007, 80). This definition encompasses both collective and individual activism, as it lays emphasis on building relationships that foster change in the community or contribute to reworking existing networks and powers (Martin, Hanson, and Fontaine 2007, 81). We proposed the notion of kairos (timeliness) as a focal point for thinking about the present and its relationship to the past and to the future (see below), hoping to convey a sense of urgency in thinking feminism, education and activism today, also wishing to avoid naming and stirring the debate towards specific feminist-philosophical debates around temporality. Our interest in time is – to paraphrase the feminist motto – personal, educational and political. Why now? Motta et al. argue that

The Enjoyment of Space: The University Campus in Students' Narratives and Photography.

In this paper I discuss how students use narratives and photography in order to represent their everyday engagement with the university space. I draw on the Lacanian notions of the Real and the drive, and suggest ways in which these notions can be used to develop a different approach to educational spaces, especially when photographic material is used in conjunction with interviews.

Antigone and her double, Lacan and Baudrillard

In Impossible Exchange (2001) Baudrillard questions the sovereignty of the thinking–willing subject and invites us to reconsider the subject–object economy with emphasis on the latter. He also develops the notion of the impossible exchange as an opportunity for the individual to see itself from the outside and consider the ontological question as one of presence and absence. This paper argues that Baudrillard’s notions converge with salient characteristics of the Lacanian drive. Bringing Baudrillard and Lacan together creates a unique point of view from which to consider questions of destiny, freedom and choice as well as their expression in contemporary culture. Two modern adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone are used as examples.

Andrew Samuels in conversation with Angie Voela

In a relatively informal style, Angie Voela interviews Andrew Samuels. In a wide-ranging conversation, they discuss Samuels’ perceptions of the relationship between academic life and political activism, and between political activism and psychotherapy and analysis. There is a clinical focus on the management of political material in the therapy session. Samuels explains why he is so concerned that the role of the individual in progressive politics should be emphasised. Spiritual dimensions of socio-political engagements – referred to as ‘resacralisation’ – also receive attention.

Psychoanalysis, Philosophy and Myth in Contemporary Culture: After Oedipus

This book examines the use of myth in contemporary popular and high culture, and proposes that the aporetic subject, the individual that ‘does not know’, is the ideal contemporary subject. Using several contemporary novels, films and theatrical plays that illustrate aporia – such as Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (Riordan, 2007), Tron Legacy (Koninski, 2010), Welcome to Thebes (Buffini, 2010), The Photographers (Koundouros, 1998), Prometheus (2012) and Prometheus Retrogressing (Sfikas, 1998) – Angie Voela introduces common ground between Lacanian psychoanalysis and some of Freud’s most ardent critics, Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard, as well as the cultural philosopher Bernard Stiegler. These unprecedented systematic comparisons broaden the scope and impact of Lacanian psychoanalysis in inter-disciplinary debates of philosophy and culture and Voela argues that apart from dealing with the past, psychoanalysis must also deal more explicitly with the present and the future. She presents a unique inquiry into modern subjectivity that will be of great interest to scholars of psychoanalysis, philosophy, film, literature and contemporary culture.

It’s time: Generation and temporality in psychoanalytic feminism

In this paper I examine some key aspects of defining one’s generation: transmitting values to younger generations in a way that makes sense to them; cultivating a psychic flexibility that allows us to welcome the future and be prepared for the unexpected whilst not succumbing to the fear of social, political and economic precarity; thinking of generation as both our collective moment in time and as generative potential; reaffirming the value of communication and sharing experience; and maintaining a dialogue between psychoanalytic feminism and other strands of feminist philosophy.

Food Banks in East London: Growth by Stealth and Marginalisation by the State

In debates about the formation of policies to alleviate poverty food banks are considered by some to inhibit the development of policies to address structural inequalities that account for poverty, social and health inequalities. By feeding hungry people food banks bring immediate relief, but, it is argued that the availability of emergency food removes pressures from policymakers to adopt a social justice and rights-based solution to address the causes of food poverty. Following her research on Trussell Trust Foodbanks two years ago Lambie-Mumford called for a debate on these issues before food banks become institutionalised (Lambie-Mumford 2013). In this paper we describe how a policy of dissociation by central government has created a space for food banks to multiple by stealth. The lack of policy debate has been accompanied by a largely absent discussion about how food banks operate in practice, and in this study we asked food bank managers what they do, and how they are coping with, and adapting to increased demand for their services.

Festivals, affect and identity: A Deleuzian apprenticeship in Central Italian communities

The ethnographic fabric of this book consists of case studies of festivals in the province of Siena, Italy: the Palio of Siena, Montepulciano’s Bruscello Theatre and Bravio Delle Botti (Barrel Race), and Monticchiello’s theatre. The approach is Deleuzian. It is easy to use, apply and fake Deleuze these days, with a growing body of texts to draw on and a continuing appetite for studies on affect. What is infinitely harder to do – what cannot be faked – is ‘a Deleuzian apprenticeship’ in which ethnographic research, theory, time, place, tradition, history, people, forces, powers, communities, cultural events and personal insight illuminate and support one another, producing assemblages of great intellectual, methodological and emotional interest. Such assemblages never fail to draw readers into apprenticeships of their own. Lita Crociani-Windland’s book does just that. As the author explains in the introduction, each case study can be read independently. Their combined effect, however, constitutes the full apprenticeship. The case of the Sienese Palio horse race, which I will present here in some detail as an example of the book’s approach, opens with an eye-witness account of the two-day event. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the historical dynamics of the region and the power struggles that gave rise to the system of contrade, the districts/ neighbourhoods that are today represented in the race. The religious aspect of the festival, the use of animal emblems, the reasons for the change (from a long race to racing around the perimeter of the central square) and the boundary restrictions of the past are meticulously documented – and so is the spirit of the Sienese people, their pride and sense of independence. The Deleuzian paradigm of ‘The State and the War Machine’ encompasses this web of forces. Through its lens, the race is seen as emerging from harnessing opposing forces, namely, those of an emerging army typical of the State, and the contrade, which remain mobile and fluent and typical of the War Machine. But the race is more than a creative way of settling and commemorating power struggles. It is an opportunity for Deleuzian becoming, which is always anti-authoritarian, anti-institutional and anti-masculine. Thus, this highly charged and ‘manly’ race is shown to have a great affinity with a process of transformation, a becoming-animal, which has found its way into the emblems of the contrade and a becoming-child, which is confirmed in the status of the winning side as the city’s beloved ‘child’. The complex analysis offered by the author exceeds the confines of a single methodological approach or discipline but is clearly shown to have benefited from several. The analysis also illuminates ways in which the present is connected to the past, generations to one another and identity to cultural belonging – without identity being restricted by cultural belonging. While the discussion of the Palio centres around the notions of ‘The State and War Machine’, the discussion of the Bruscello theatre focuses on the Deleuzian notion of the refrain. Again, the history and geography of Montepulciano are traced in intricate detail, as is the participation of generations of amateur thespians in the annual event. Book Reviews

In the name of the father – or not: Individual and society in popular culture, Deleuzian theory and Lacanian psychoanalysis

The publication of Deleuze and Guattaris Anti-Oedipus proclaimed the demise of Oedipus and initiated a harsh critique of Freudian psychoanalysis. Ever since, Deleuze and Guatarri have been read mainly in opposition to Lacan and Freud. Using the science fiction film Minority Report as an example this paper attempts to balance the two approaches. It focuses on two themes emerging from the film: the experience of ‘becoming’ alongside the question a contemporary Oedipus might ask instead of ‘Who am I?’, and the relationship between individuals and society in the light of the ‘better world’ that is emerging as a collective contemporary ideal.

Patterns and scripts: The revision of feminine heterosexuality in feminist theory and literature

In a recent article in Sociology, Diane Richardson contends that rather than focusing on theorizing the specific relationship between sexuality and gender, researchers should focus on developing frameworks that capture the complex and dynamic nature of that relationship. Towards that end, Richardson proposes ‘patterned fluidities’ as a working metaphor for feminine sexuality. This article explores the potential of the metaphor as a focal point for bringing together different strands of feminist thought on heterosexuality. It discusses if and how ‘patterned fluidities’ are supported by empirical evidence and how they interact with areas of thought that do not fall within the scope of Richardson’s article, namely feminist views on postmodernity. Three contemporary Greek novels are used as examples.