Abject Love

Abject Love examines the process by which bodies
becomes labelled able-bodied or disabled', and
interrogates the constitution of these categories.
Not all bodies are able-bodied, but all human beings
have bodies that someday stop functioning. Inahara
suggests that we cannot simply assume a natural
division between the able-bodied and the disabled.
This book explores the different ways in which we can
theorise physical disability and argues, using the
work of psychoanalytic and poststructuralist
feminists, (including Judith Butler, Luce Irigaray,
and Julia Kristeva), that the allocation of the
category of disability is a process of abjection.
The abject' is something that society constantly
attempts to throw out because it unsettles carefully
bounded conceptions of self'. Throughout the book
the theoretical narrative is anchored in reading of
cultural texts, particularly film, but also including
art and performance.

Autorentext

Minae Inahara is an Honorary Research Associate in Philosophy,attached to the Centre for Research into Embodied Subjectivity,at the University of Hull, UK.

Klappentext

Abject Love examines the process by which bodiesbecomes labelled 'able-bodied' or 'disabled', andinterrogates the constitution of these categories. Not all bodies are able-bodied, but all human beingshave bodies that someday stop functioning. Inaharasuggests that we cannot simply assume a naturaldivision between the able-bodied and the disabled. This book explores the different ways in which we cantheorise physical disability and argues, using thework of psychoanalytic and poststructuralistfeminists, (including Judith Butler, Luce Irigaray,and Julia Kristeva), that the allocation of thecategory of disability is a process of abjection. The'abject' is something that society constantlyattempts to throw out because it unsettles carefullybounded conceptions of'self'. Throughout the bookthe theoretical narrative is anchored in reading ofcultural texts, particularly film, but also includingart and performance.