The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of the Liberal Arts Fictive Images and the Feminist Democratic Imagination A Dissertation in Political Science and Women‘s Studies by Sushmita Chatterjee 2009 Sushmita Chatterjee Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2009 The dissertation of Sushmita Chatterjee was reviewed and approved* by the following: Nancy S. Love Associate Professor of Political Science and Communication Arts and Sciences Dissertation Adviser Chair of Committee John Christman Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Science Joan Landes Ferree Professor of History and Women‘s Studies Susan Squier Brill Professor of English and Women‘s Studies Mrinalini Sinha Liberal Arts Research Professor of History and Women‘s Studies P.J. Brendese Assistant Professor of Government College of William and Mary, Special Member Marie Hojnacki Associate Professor and Chair of Graduate Program, Department of Political Science *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School ii ABSTRACT My dissertation titled ―Fictive Images and the Feminist Democratic Imagination,‖ examines post-9/11 identity politics through Art Spiegelman‘s craft of cartooning. Using Spiegelman‘s work on 9/11, In The Shadow Of No Towers (2004), I study both his style of image making (cartoons) and his images (cartoon figures of animals and ghosts) to reflect on new possibilities for feminist democratic theory and politics. I use the term ―fictive images‖ to describe the cartoon images that work beyond categorical oppositions of the fictional and non- fictional. Fictive images constitute a mode of visualization which in its blurring of the identity categories of the human and real, deftly illuminates the construction of these categories themselves. Wedded to deconstructive ways of knowing, fictive images are a mode of visualizing (im)possibilities that have been rendered unintelligible by dominant ways of perceiving the world. By focusing on 9/11 my dissertation situates these reflections as a response to working through the trauma of the event. It is the ethic of possibility that fuels my project, an attempt to unwrap the emancipatory potentials of feminist democratic politics in speaking to the needs of our times. What kind of feminist politics can speak to 9/11 without being trapped in its vicious circle of violence? How do we move beyond simply mirroring the present conditions where we are unwittingly legitimating the very divisions we seek to contest? Fictive images dare to dream beyond codings, and provide a prism to visualize democratic politics after 9/11. In my dissertation I explore how the apparently simple form of cartooning illuminates complex reality with breathtaking dexterity. Through their deceptive simplicity, cartoons demonstrate the freedom to play with ideas, to reveal contradictions which necessitate thinking beyond prescriptions. By playing with normal pictures, Spiegelman‘s cartoons undo a singular iii mode of seeing or doing. Animal cartoon images are used by Spiegelman to problematize identity constructions and emphasize stereotypes. They provide a means to work through issues of accurate representation by playing on the category of ―human‖ itself. While Aristotle and other political theorists use the ―animal‖ to affirm man‘s political identity, Spiegelman uses animals as a means of ―undoing identity.‖ These animals exhibit the active tension in a politics that creates boundaries (of form, territory, and ideology). The animals haunt our notion of human differences. The cartooned ghost images work alongside the animal images. Spiegelman‘s ghost image in In The Shadow Of No Towers is a picture of the North Tower glowing with fire. The ―haunting‖ is a means for Spiegelman to work through the trauma of the past and the present. This directs our attention to a ―politics‖ throbbing with ―life‖ in its very engagement with its ―ghosts.‖ I propose specter-cular democracy as counter politics to the present. Premised on a deconstructive and utopian ethos, specter-cular democracy would be in constant conversation with otherness and alterity. Blurring boundaries and boundedness, specter-cular democracy is transformative and regenerative in inspiring mobile becomings fueled by the democratic energy of incessant yearnings. I theorize on future-oriented feminist democratic politics through the prism of specter-cular democracy. This mode of doing politics would provide an antidote to the politics of binaries which encapsulate the ―other.‖ It would showcase the tenuousness of our social constructions, their investments. Irreverent of the ―real,‖ a future oriented feminist democratic politics would be border-crossing, borders of conventions, identities, nations, and bodies. I argue for a democratic image (ination) vibrantly alive and ebullient, conscious of its processual quality, and tuned to a constant process of becoming. My project theorizes about transformative politics through visual images. I emphasize that image (de)building can astutely iv showcase our world building, an indispensable analytical motivation. Living at all times with/in images, I argue that by playing with images, re-imagining them, we can re-envision democratic prospects and possibilities. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Images ............................................................................ vii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..ix Chapter 1 Fictive Images and the Feminist Democratic Imagination ................. .1 1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1 1.2 What do I mean by democratic imagination?............................15 1.3 What are "fictive images"? ............................................... 28 1.4 Foils and catalysts: situating the theory ................................ 38 1.5 The feminist democratic imagination:an ethic of possibility ........... 44 1.6 Overview of arguments .................................................... 45 Chapter 2 Cartooning 9/11:Art Spiegelman's Visual Politics ......................... 49 2.1 Introduction ................................................................ 49 2.2 Responses to 9/11 ......................................................... 50 2.3 What is a cartoon? ........................................................ 56 2.4 Undoing of identity as a response to 9/11 .............................. 60 2.5 Spiegelman's response ..................................................... 64 2.6 Spiegelman's cartoons and the undoing of identity ..................... 68 Chapter 3 Becoming Animal and Deconstructing Animality: A Feminist Exploration . 91 3.1 Introduction ................................................................ 91 3.2 The political animal and animal politics ................................... 94 3.3 Feminism, the question of the animal, and feminist democratic politics today………....................................................................105 3.4 Spiegelman's response....................................................116 3.5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….130 Chapter 4 Specter-cular Democracy…………………………………………………………………………………….135 4.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………135 4.2 Security and liberal democracy………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……...136 4.3 The spectacle and the specter.……………………………………………………………..…..148 4.4 Spiegelman's ghosts and ghostly politics………………………………………………….…160 4.5 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…176 Chapter 5 (In)Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..184 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….202 vi LIST OF IMAGES Fig. 1, page 1: Source: http://cagle.msnbc.com/working/051213/englehart.gif. Fig. 2, page 36: Source: Women’s eNews, 12/18/05, http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/context/commentoon. Fig. 3, page 52: Source: Long 2007, 284. Fig. 4, page 54: Source: Bok 2002, 41. Fig. 5, page 73: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 1. Fig. 6, page 78: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 6. Fig.7, page 82: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 1 and Plate VI. Fig.8, page 90: Source: Spiegelman 2004, front cover. Fig.9, page 119: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 2. Fig. 10, page 121: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 9. Fig. 11, page 125: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 5. Fig. 12, page 126: Source: Image from Maus in Baker 1993, 147. Fig. 13, page 141: Source: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushsecurityybkanket.htm. Fig. 14, page 163: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 1. Fig. 15, page 169: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 1. Fig. 16, page 171: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 2. Fig. 17, page 175: Source: Spiegelman 2004, 9. Fig. 18, page 179: Source: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushdubcula.htm. vii Fig. 19, page 200: Source: Photo by Alexa Schriempf 2005. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation emphasizes creative affirmation of selves and politics in responsibility and responsiveness to otherness. I have been inspired by the search for possibilities that lie in- between normalized frames of representation that open up the question of being human in new and exciting ways. This spirit owes itself to my advisor Professor Nancy Love. Her faith in me and my project enabled me to write the dissertation that I wanted to write. I owe her the deepest gratitude, not only for reading and commenting on multiple drafts of every chapter, but, in helping me keep alive my excitement and belief in the project. Her empathetic academic sensibility worked with me to help me develop my argument and see