Judith Butler's Precarious Politics ─ Critical Encounters

Judith Butler has been arguably the most important gender theorist of the past twenty years. This edited volume draws leading international political theorists into dialogue with her political theory.
Each chapter is written by an acclaimed political theorist and concentrates on a particular aspect of Butler's work. The book is divided into five sections which reflect the interdisciplinary nature of Butler's work and activism:


Butler and Philosophy: explores Butler’s unique relationship to the discipline of philosophy, considering her work in light of its philosophical contributions


Butler and Subjectivity: covers the vexed question of subjectivity with which Butler has engaged throughout her published history


Butler and Gender: considers the most problematic area, gender, taken by many to be primary to Butler’s work


Butler and Democracy: engages with Butler’s significant contribution to the literature of radical democracy and to the central political issues faced by our post-cold war


Butler and Action: focuses directly on the question of political agency and political action in Butler’s work.

Along with its companion volume, Judith Butler and Political Theory, it marks an intellectual event for political theory, with major implications for feminism, women’s studies, gender studies, cultural studies, lesbian and gay studies, queer theory and anyone with a critical interest in contemporary American ‘great power’ politics.

Terrell Carver is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Bristol, UK. He has published extensively on theoretical issues relevant to sex, gender and sexuality in political theory and international relations.
Samuel A. Chambers is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Swansea University, where he teaches political theory and cultural politics. He writes broadly in contemporary thought, including work on language, culture, and the politics of gender and sexuality.

1. Introduction Terrell Carver & Samuel A. Chambers Part 1: Phenomenology & Epistemology 2. Butler’s Phenomenological Existentialism Diana Coole 3. Feminists Know Not What They Do: Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble and the Limits of Epistemology Linda M.G. Zerilli Part 2: Feminism & Philosophy 4. ‘French Theory’ goes to France: Trouble dans le Genre and ‘Materialist’ Feminism – A Conversation Manqué Lisa Jane Disch 5. Acclaim for Antigone’s Claim Reclaimed (or, Steiner contra Butler) John E. Seery Part 3: Capitalism & Culture 6. Missing Poststructuralism, Missing Foucault: Butler and Fraser on Capitalism and the Regulation of Sexuality Anna Marie Smith 7. Towards a Cultural Politics of Vulnerability: Precarious Lives and Ungrievable Deaths Moya Lloyd Part 4: Ethics & Sovereignty 8. Change of Address: Butler’s Ethics at Sovereignty’s Deadlock Jodi Dean 9. Sovereignty and Suffering: Towards an Ethics of Grief in a Post-9/11 World David S. Gutterman & Sara L. Rushing Part 5: Law & Rights 10. Butler and Life: Law, Sovereignty, Power Elena Loizidou 11. Rights and the Politics of Performativity Karen Zivi Part 6: Humanity & Vulnerability 12. This Species Which Is Not One: Identity Practices in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Kathy E. Ferguson 13. Vulnerability, Vengeance, and Community: Butler’s Political Thought and Eastwood’s Mystic River Robert E. Watkins 14. Gender Trouble at Abu Ghraib Timothy Kaufman-Osborn