Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
Pages: 248
•
Trim: 6⅛ x 9
978-1-78348-034-0 • Hardback • September 2014 • $151.00 • (£117.00)
978-1-78348-035-7 • Paperback • August 2014 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
978-1-78348-036-4 • eBook • August 2014 • $47.50 • (£37.00)
Dara Blumenthal is an interdisciplinary researcher and writer. She completed her BA at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, before moving onto Doctoral research in Sociology, followed by an M.A. in Critical Theory at the University of Kent, UK. While at Kent she held Departmental Scholarships in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research and the School of English.
Introduction: Being (Beyond) Oneself/Part I: The Dis-Embodiment of Identity/ 1. Homo Clausus and the Western Philosophical Tradition/ 2. Homines Aperti and Post-Structuralism/ 3. Corpus Infinitum and Posthumanism/ Part II: Individuating the Communal/ 4. The History of Western Public Toilets since the Fifteenth Century/ Part III: Theory as Practice/ 5. Homo Clausus and The Triadic Intra-Action Order/6. Homines Aperti and Matters of Care/ 7. Corpus Infinitum and the Materiality of Possibility/ Part IV: Entangling Ethics/ 8. Toward a New Ethics of Being/ 9. Epilogue: ‘and in a sense/ Works Cited/ Index
An important intervention into feminist debates about identity, embodiment, ontology and epistemology, Little Vast Rooms of Undoing is a groundbreaking analysis of one of THE crucibles in which the social and the cultural are formed, tested, undermined and broken. An important stimulus to new ways of thinking about 'who we are', this book deserves to be read widely and deeply in cultural studies and sociology.
— Chris Shilling, Professor Chris Shilling, Director of Postgraduate Studies, University of Kent, UK.
Blumenthal's study renders palapable the embodied experience of space and boundary regulating the close encounters that are part of our everyday lives. Drawing closely on the thinking of Norbert Elias, and on the basis of sound ethnographic research, her neo-phenomenological approach revitalises and extends his thought bringing it into productive conjunction with the new feminist materialisms and the wider theorisation of identity formation.This is a stunning debut and will be of interest in the fields of cultural sociology and cultural studies."
— Dave Boothroyd, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, Lincoln School of Film and Media, University of Lincoln, author of Ethical Subjects in Contemporary Culture
Little Vast Rooms of Undoing represents a rich, interdisciplinary and highly inventive exploration of self-identity and the body as experienced in public toilet spaces. Drawing on original empirical research, the book vividly brings to light the ways in which gendered identity and embodiment is managed, negotiated and resisted through the on-going mundane processes of daily life. Little Vast Rooms is a wonderful read, which restores the adage of the ‘personal is political’ though its theoretically rich, stylish and exciting prose.
— Sally Hines, Professor of Sociology and Gender Identities, University of Leeds
Critically explores the relationship between self-identity and the body as experienced through the ongoing, mundane processes of daily life.
The first book to focus on embodiment, materiality, and the mundane daily experience of self-body identity in public toilet spaces.
Based on an empirical study of over 200 surveys and 50 interviewers with a range of heterosexual, queer, gender non-conforming and trans individuals in the US and UK.
Develops a theory of embodiment, Corpus Infinitum, which highlights how, when theory is understood as onto-epistemological, it can have real material effects.
Uses the work of Peter Gizzi, an award-winning American poet, as a performative interruption to materialize the experiential-concepts of (de)territorialization and entanglement.