ABSTRACT
In this chapter we attempt to challenge dominant feminist philosophical debates on organization in order to develop fluid formations of a feminine symbolic imaginary. Wemap how the feminine symbolic is constructed and reconstructed through intertextualmodels of language so as to destabilize binary classifications of gender. Developing the analysis in Chapter 3, we draw on, and write through, the theoretical and poetical gestures of Luce Irigaray, a feminist philosopher frequently overlooked in contemporary critical debates on organization. In essence we argue that herwritings can be a powerfulmedium for re-imagining organization practices by encouraging researchers to challenge taken-for-granted beliefs about gender structures, gender symbolism and gendering processes. Mindful of criticisms that Irigaray’s work reflects a radical form of essentialism, we attempt to show, through dialogic engagement with her writings, a commitment to the fluidity of organizational identities. In so doing we argue that Irigaray’s ‘feminine’ writings offer the opportunity to expand on feminist investigations of organization theory. In the feminist poststructuralist tradition we focus on the interweaving and overlapping aspects of her work. As in Chapter 3, we reveal how sexual difference is primarily based on a logic of the ‘same’ and how fluid forms of femininity can be imagined and (re)created. As part of this analysis we examine Irigaray’s deconstruction of the sexuate structure of language; in particular we focus on two textual strategies — mimeses and dialogic forms of engagement. Unlike much poststructuralist work on organization, this form of analysis emphasizes intertextual forms of knowledge that weave together reader, writer and social text in moving interplay.
