ABSTRACT

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.

chapter 1|23 pages

Recognition, Resistance and Reconstruction

An Introduction to Subjectivities and Social Justice

part I|49 pages

Reconstructing Gendered Subjectivities

chapter 2|18 pages

Normative Gender Coercion and Its Subversion

An Autoethnography of a Quest for Recognition

chapter 3|14 pages

“Mincing, Striding, Stomping, Gliding”

Messing with Gender Choreographic Taboos

chapter 4|15 pages

Mothers and Sons

Transforming Gendered Subjectivities

part II|32 pages

Recognising Resistant Sexualities

chapter 6|16 pages

“New Rules, No Rules, Old Rules or Our Rules”

Women Designing Mixed-Orientation Relationships with Bisexual Men

part III|50 pages

Validating Racialised Subjectivities

chapter 7|17 pages

Crossing Borders as Mestizas and Coyotes

Recognising Older Somali Women's Shifting Subjectivities in Australia

chapter 8|18 pages

Performative Subjects

Migrants and Their House-Building Practices

chapter 9|13 pages

Indigenous Subjectivities

How Young Women Prisoners Subvert Domination Representations to Maintain Their Sense of Intrinsic Worth

part IV|45 pages

Interrogating Privileged Subjectivities

chapter 10|14 pages

Transforming Privileged Subjectivities

Toward a Pedagogy of the Oppressor

chapter 12|15 pages

Educating Men for Gender Equality

The Potential and Limitations of Remaking Masculine Subjectivities

part V|59 pages

Creating New Spaces of Resistance in Everyday Life

chapter 14|15 pages

Residues and Resistance

The Chafe of Working Class Girl to Academic

chapter 15|14 pages

Recognition and Redistribution as Situated Practices

Reflections on Some Experiences as a Social Work Academic

chapter 16|16 pages

Politics on a Small Stage

Relationships as a Theatre for the Mis/Performance of Fairness and Respect