Via a wide range of case studies, this book examines new forms of resistance to social injustices in contemporary Western societies. Resistance requires agency, and agency is grounded in notions of the subject and subjectivity. How do people make sense of their subjectivity as they are constructed and reconstructed within relations of power? What kinds of subjectivities are needed to struggle against forms of dominance and claim recognition?

The participants in the case studies are challenging forms of dominance and subordination grounded in class, race, culture, nationality, sexuality, religion, age, disability and other forms of social division. It is a premise of this book that new and/or reconstructed forms of subjectivity are required to challenge social relations of subordination and domination. Thus, the transformation of subjectivity as well as the restructuring of oppressive power relations is necessary to achieve social justice.

By examining the construction of subjectivity of particular groups through an intersectional lens, the book aims to contribute to theoretical accounts of how subjects are constituted and how they can develop a critical distance from their positioning.

 

 

Table of Contents

1. Recognition, Resistance and Reconstruction: An Introduction to Subjectivities and Social Justice Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli and Bob Pease
Part One: Reconstructing Gendered Subjectivities
2. Normative Gender Coercion and Its Subversion: An Autoethnography of a Quest for Recognition Julie Peters
3. "Mincing, Striding, Stomping, Gliding": Messing with Gender Choreographic Taboos Jack Migdalek
4. Mothers and Sons: Transforming Gendered Subjectivities Sarah Epstein
Part Two: Recognising Resistant Sexualities
5. Conceptualising Disabled Sexual Subjectivity Russell Shuttleworth
6. "New Rules, No Rules, Old Rules or Our Rules": Women Designing Mixed-Orientation Relationships with Bisexual Men Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli
Part Three: Validating Racialised Subjectivities
7. Crossing Borders as Mestizas and Coyotes: Recognising Older Somali Women’s Shifting Subjectivities in Australia Georgia Birch
8. Performative Subjects: Migrants and Their House-Building Practices Mirjana Lozanovska
9. Indigenous Subjectivities: How Young Women Prisoners Subvert Domination Representations to Maintain Their Sense of Intrinsic Worth Sophie Goldingay and Tania Mataki
Part Four: Interrogating Privileged Subjectivities
10. Transforming Privileged Subjectivities: Toward a Pedagogy of the Oppressor Bob Pease
11. Moving from One Place to Another Within a Colonizer Positioning Clare Land
12. Educating Men for Gender Equality: The Potential and Limitations of Remaking Masculine Subjectivities Stephen Fisher
Part Five: Creating New Spaces of Resistance in Everyday Life
13. Resisting Age Conformity in Everyday Life Tina Kostecki
14. Residues and Resistance: The Chafe of Working-Class Girl to Academic Norah Hosken
15. Recognition and Redistribution as Situated Practices: Reflections on Some Experiences as a Social Work Academic Heather D’Cruz
16. Politics on a Small Stage: Relationships as a Theatre for the Mis/Performance of Fairness and Respect Mark Furlong