Time Travels: Feminism, Nature, Power (Next Wave: New Directions in Women's Studies)

269 Pages·2005·1.13 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Grosz

Time travels 23/3/06 9:45 AM Page i
‘What does it mean to introduce time into thought? Bergson formu-
lated this question in the nineteenth century; Deleuze took it up
again in postwar France. In her philosophical travels through legal
studies,new technologies,and debates in Darwinism,Elizabeth Grosz
brilliantly pursues its punch for us today: What would it mean for
feminism to include an evolutionary materialism oftime,and what
would it mean for it to become an ineliminable part of a “new
Bergsonism”ofthe twenty-first century?’
John Rajchman,author ofThe Deleuze Connections
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T I M E
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TTRRAAVVEE LLSS
Feminism, Nature, Power
ELIZABETH GROSZ
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First published in Australia and New Zealand in 2005
Copyright © Elizabeth Grosz 2005
All rights reserved.No part ofthis book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying,recording or by any information storage
and retrieval system,without prior permission in writing from the
publisher.TheAustralian Copyright Act 1968(the Act) allows a
maximum ofone chapter or 10 per cent ofthis book,whichever is
the greater,to be photocopied by any educational institution for its
educational purposes provided that the educational institution
(or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to
Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
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Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Grosz,E.A.(Elizabeth Anne) 1952- .
Time travels :feminism,nature,power.
1st ed.
Bibliography.
ISBN 1 74114 572 4.
1.Time – Philosophy. 2.Biology – Philosophy. 3.
Feminist theory. 4.Becoming (Philosophy). 5.Social
change. I.Title.
115
Set in Minion by Tseng Information,Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan
Printed by Ligare Book Printers,Sydney
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7 CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
PART I. NATURE, CULTURE, AND THE FUTURE
1. DarwinandFeminism:PreliminaryInvestigationsinto
aPossibleAlliance 13
2. DarwinandtheOntologyofLife 35
3. TheNatureofCulture 43
PART II. LAW, JUSTICE, AND THE FUTURE
4. TheTimeofViolence:Derrida,Deconstruction,andValue 55
5. DrucillaCornell,Identity,andthe‘‘Evolution’’ofPolitics 71
PART III. PHILOSOPHY, KNOWLEDGE, AND THE FUTURE
6. Deleuze,Bergson,andtheVirtual 93
7. Merleau-Ponty,Bergson,andtheQuestionofOntology 113
8. TheThing 131
9. ProstheticObjects 145

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PART IV. IDENTITY, SEXUAL DIFFERENCE, AND THE FUTURE
10. TheTimeofThought 155
11. TheForceofSexualDifference 171
12. (Inhuman)Forces:Power,Pleasure,andDesire 185
13. TheFutureofFemaleSexuality 197
Notes 215
References 241
Index 253

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7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks go to a numberof institutions and individuals without whose
supportandpromptingtheseessayswouldnothavebeenwritten.Theearli-
estoftheessayswerewrittenwhenIworkedintheCriticalTheoryandCul-
turalStudiesProgramatMonashUniversityinMelbourne,Australia.The
majority werewritten while I was employed in the Departments of Com-
parativeLiteratureandEnglishattheStateUniversityofNewYorkatBuf-
falo.Andthelastessays,andthebookasawhole,werecompletedwhenI
movedtotheDepartmentofWomen’sandGenderStudiesatRutgersUni-
versity.Mygreatthankstothefaculty,staff,andstudentsinthesedepart-
mentsanduniversitiesfortheirpatienceandtoleranceduringthewritingsof
thesevariouspapers.Myspecialthankstotheorganizersofvariousseminars
and conferences for which I produced the majorityof these essays.With-
outtheirinvitations,andprovocations,IdoubtthatIwouldhavehadthe
resourcesandtheenergytowritethesefortheirownsake.Eachwasunder-
taken fora specific topic, purpose, or function. I hope that by modifying
themandputtingthemtogetherinacollectionsuchasthis,theindividual
inspirationsforeacharenotlost.
Ineedtosingleoutforspecialacknowledgmentanumberofindividuals
whoreadvariousmanuscripts,providedmoralsupport,criticalcomments,
ashouldertocryon,orastrongpeptalkwhenIwantedtostop.WhileI
canonlyprovidealistofnameshere,suchalistdoesnotdojusticetothe
depth of obligation I feel for their help. My thanks, then, to Judith Allen,
GeoffreyBatchen,SueBest,PhengCheah,ClaireColebrook,DrucillaCor-

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s viii Acknowledgments
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LS nell, Joan Copjec, Mimi Long, Isabel Marcus, Sally Munt,Tony Nunziata,
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AV KellyOliver,MichaelPollak,JohnRajchman,JacquelineReid,JillRobbins,
R
T GaiStern,GailWeiss,andCarolZemel.Yourfriendshipandsupporthave
E
IM made an immense difference to me. My special thanks to the fouranony-
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/ mousreadersofthemanuscriptfortheirvarioussuggestions:thebookasa
sz wholeistighterandmorecohesivebecauseoftheircomments.Ioweadebt
o
Gr thatIcanneverrepaytoNicoleFermon,whosewitandwisdom,graceand

93 goodwill,buoyedandinspiredmethroughthelongperiodofproductionof
2
7 thisbook.Withoutherencouragement,hersuggestionsandprovocations,
theseessayswouldprobablyhaveremainedunpublishedandcertainlyun-
polished.Mygratitudetomyfamily,toEvaGross,TomGross,IritRosen,
Tahli Fisher, Daniel and Mia Gross, as well as to Mary Gross, and Glenn,
Daniel,andLukeRosewell.

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7 INTRODUCTION
Timeremainsthecentralyetforgottenforcethatmotivatesandinformsthe
universe,fromitsmostcosmologicalprinciplestoitsmostintimateliving
details.Culturallifeinallitscomplications,nolessthannaturalexistence,is
structuredbyandrespondstoaforcethatitdoesnotcontrolandyetmarks
anddatesallitsactivitiesandprocesses.TimeTravelsbringstogetheraseries
ofdisparateessayswhichfocusontheimplicationsandeffectsofconceiving
a temporality in which the future remains virtual and beyond the control
ofthepresent.Theseessaysarevariousconceptual‘‘travels’’in,explorations
of,howreconsideringourconceptsoftimemightresultinnewconceptsof
nature,culture,subjectivity,andpolitics:theyareexplorationsof howfar
wecanpushthepresenttogenerateanunknown—whatisnew,whatmight
nothavebeen.1
Various,usuallyimplicit,conceptsoftimearerelevanttoandunderlie
manyofthecentralprojectsoffeministtheory,theoriesofthelawandjus-
tice,andthenaturalsciencesandtheirrelationstothesocialsciencesand
humanities. Questions about culture and representation, concepts of sub-
jectivity,sexuality,andidentity,aswellasconceptsofpoliticalstruggleand
transformation all make assumptions about the relevance of history, the
place of the present, and the forward-moving impetus directing us to the
future. But temporality is very rarely the direct object of analysis in these
variousdiscoursesandprojects.TimeTravelsdevelopsaconceptofatempo-
ralitynotunderthedominationorprivilegeofthepresent,thatis,atempo-
ralitydirectedtoafuturethatisunattainableandunknowableinthepresent,

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