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Self-Identity and the Discourse of Repression: Feminist Theories of the SubjectDissertation, York University (Canada). 1993.This dissertation identifies and analyses a common theme in feminist theories of the identity of the self, beginning with Simone de Beauvoir, and continuing through the work of "relational" theorists such as Nancy Chodorow, Carol Gilligan and Jessica Benjamin, and poststructuralist theorists such as Luce Irigaray and Judith Butler. For all of these theorists, the identity of the self is understood to be a form of repression--of nonidentity, of difference, of connection, of "the other." ;I trace …Read more
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20Islamic Feminisms and FreedomPhilosophical Topics 41 (2): 97-119. 2013.This essay discusses the interaction of struggles for gender equality with a plurality of conceptions of freedom in Islamic feminist scholarship and activism. I discuss Islamic feminist critiques of feminism and rights, the concept of Islamic secularism, and the problematization of freedom in relation to women’s piety movements. Finally I take up Islamic feminist interpretations of the Qur’an to identify conceptions of freedom in this work. I argue, first, that there are diverse conceptions of f…Read more
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6Glauben an Wissen: Über das Problem der Überzeugung in der feministischen TheorieDeutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 45 (1): 51-62. 1997.
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26The Global Universal Caregiver: Imagining Women's Liberation in the New MillenniumConstellations 12 (3): 308-330. 2005.
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121Home and identity: In memory of Iris Marion youngHypatia 23 (3). 2008.Drawing on Iris Marion Young’s essay, “House and Home: Feminist Variations on a Theme,” Weir argues for an alternative ideal of home that involves: (1) the risk of connection, and of sustaining relationship through conflict; (2) relational identities, constituted through both relations of power and relations of mutuality, love, and flourishing; (3) relational autonomy: freedom as the capacity to be in relationships one desires, and freedom as expansion of self in relationship; and (4) connection…Read more
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30Collective Love as Public Freedom: Dancing Resistance. Ehrenreich, Arendt, Kristeva, and Idle No MoreHypatia 32 (1): 19-34. 2017.In the Indigenous resistance movement that came to be known as “Idle No More,” round dances played a central role. From the beginning of the movement in western Canada in the winter of 2012–13, and as it spread across Turtle Island and throughout the world, round dances served to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists with people in the streets. “At almost every event, we collectively embodied our diverse and ancient traditions in the round dance by taking the movement to the str…Read more
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25Power, Gender, and The Politics of Our SelvesCritical Horizons 15 (1): 28-39. 2014.Amy Allen’s insightful and nuanced feminist critical-theoretical account of the politics of our selves could be strengthened with a more complex and differentiated account of power and of gender, and of the social as a site of multiple conflicting and contesting relations. Such an account would adhere more consistently to Allen’s own project of understanding subjects to be constituted through both relations of power and relations of interdependence and mutuality, care and solidarity. The develop…Read more
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79Global Care Chains: Freedom, Responsibility, and SolidaritySouthern Journal of Philosophy 46 (S1): 166-175. 2008.
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41Review Articles : The Paradox of the Self: Jessica Benjamin's Intersubjective Theory (review)Thesis Eleven 32 (1): 141-153. 1992.
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39Home and Identity: In Memory of Iris Marion YoungHypatia 23 (3): 4-21. 2008.Drawing on Iris Marion Young's essay, “House and Home: Feminist Variations on a Theme,” Weir argues for an alternative ideal of home that involves: the risk of connection, and of sustaining relationship through conflict; relational identities, constituted through both relations of power and relations of mutuality, love, and flourishing; relational autonomy: freedom as the capacity to be in relationships one desires, and freedom as expansion of self in relationship; and connection to past and fut…Read more
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18In the Indigenous resistance movement that came to be known as “Idle No More,” round dances played a central role. From the beginning of the movement in western Canada in the winter of 2012–13, and as it spread across Turtle Island and throughout the world, round dances served to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists with people in the streets. “At almost every event, we collectively embodied our diverse and ancient traditions in the round dance by taking the movement to the str…Read more
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64Sacrificial logics: feminist theory and the critique of identityRoutledge. 1996.Contemporary feminist theory is at an impasse: the project of reformulating concepts of self and social identity is thwarted by an association between identity and oppression and victimhood. In Sacrificial Logics, Allison Weir proposes a way out of this impasse through a concept of identity which depends on accepting difference. Weir argues that the equation of identity with repression and domination links "relational" feminists like Nancy Chodorow, who equate self-identity with the repression o…Read more
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238Global feminism and transformative identity politicsHypatia 23 (4). 2008.In this paper, Weir reconsiders identity politics and their relation to feminist solidarity. She argues that the dimension of identity as “identification-with” has been the liberatory dimension of identity politics, and that this dimension has been overshadowed and displaced by a focus on identity as category. Weir addresses critiques of identification as a ground of solidarity, and sketches a model of identity and identity politics based not in sameness, but in transformative historical process…Read more
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177Who are we?: Modern identities between Taylor and FoucaultPhilosophy and Social Criticism 35 (5): 533-553. 2009.Charles Taylor and Michel Foucault offer two very different descriptions and analyses of modern identities. While it can be argued that Taylor and Foucault are thematizing two very different aspects of identity — Taylor is focusing on first-person, subjective, affirmed identity, and Foucault is focusing on third-person, or ascribed, category identity — in practice, these two are very much intertwined. I argue that attention to identities of race, gender, class and sexual orientation demands that…Read more
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76Identities and Freedom: Feminist Theory Between Power and ConnectionOxford University Press. 2013.How can we think about identities in the wake of feminist critiques of identity and identity politics? Allison Weir rethinks conceptions of individual and collective identities in relation to freedom.
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90Feminism and the Islamic Revival: Freedom as a Practice of BelongingHypatia 28 (2): 323-340. 2013.In her book, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject, Saba Mahmood analyzes the practices of the women in the mosque movement in Cairo, Egypt. Mahmood argues that in order to recognize the participants as agents, we need to question the assumption that agency entails resistance to norms; moreover, we need to question the feminist allegiance to an unquestioned ideal of freedom. In this paper, I argue that rather than giving up the ideal of freedom, we can explore the possi…Read more
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22Global Feminism and Transformative Identity PoliticsHypatia 23 (4): 110-133. 2008.In this paper, Weir reconsiders identity politics and their relation to feminist solidarity. She argues that the dimension of identity as “identification-with” has been the liberatory dimension of identity politics, and that this dimension has been overshadowed and displaced by a focus on identity as category. Weir addresses critiques of identification as a ground of solidarity, and sketches a model of identity and identity politics based not in sameness, but in transformative historical process…Read more