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Self-Narrative, Feminist Theory and Writing Practice

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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ResearchArchive at Victoria University of Wellington ON SHIFTING GROUND: Self-narrative, feminist theory and writing practice By Anne Else A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2006 To Susan Moller Okin 1946-2004 Abstract This thesis centres on a problem that stands at the heart of feminist theory: how women may come to understand themselves as speaking subjects located within historically specific, discursive social structures, to question those structures aloud, and to seek to change them. It combines self-narrative, feminist theory and writing practice to make sense of a body of published work which I produced between 1984 and 1999, with a consistent focus on some form of gendered discourse, by setting it in its personal, historical, and theoretical contexts. Although the thesis is built around published work, it is not primarily about results or outcomes, but rather about a set of active historical processes. Taking the form of a spirally structured critical autobiography spanning five and a half decades, it traces how one voice of what I have termed feminist oppositional imagining has emerged and taken its own worded shape. First, it constructs a double story of coming to writing and coming to feminism, in order to explore the formation of a writing subject and show the critical importance of the connections between subjectivity and oppositional imagining, and to highlight the need to find ways of producing knowledge which do not rely on the notion of the detached observer. Secondly, in a deliberate shift of form and focus, it steps back to canvass the historical context for the work I produced in response to the discursive shift that has become known as the New Right. It argues that by usefully enforcing a focus on the necessity of a commitment to social justice and human interdependence, this shift spurred the development of a feminist discourse, centred on unpaid work, which is capable of understanding and countering New Right perspectives on what it means to be a human being and to live in human society. i Acknowledgements In September 2002, Associate Professor Kay Morris Matthews, then head of Gender and Women’s Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, told me that Victoria had now made it possible to undertake a PhD by published and unpublished work, and urged me to consider enrolling to do this. I am immensely grateful to her for her timely suggestion, and her constant encouragement and support. I also wish to thank her and Associate Professor Jenny Neale for the immensely skilled, professional, supportive supervision they have provided for me, despite their heavy workloads as, respectively, Head of the School of Education Studies and Head of the School of Social and Cultural Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences. It was thanks to them, too, that I applied for a Victoria University Post-Graduate Scholarship. I also wish to thank Victoria University for awarding me this scholarship; by enabling me to work full-time on this thesis from March 2004, it has made an immense difference. Many other friends and colleagues, old and new, contributed very helpful observations and suggestions, and I am grateful to them all. Andrea Godfree and Sue Hirst provided immensely valuable assistance with the final formatting . And as always, I would like to thank Harvey McQueen for his steadfast support and backing through the largest writing project yet. ii Table of Contents Page Abstract……………………………………………………………….. .i Acknowledgements....................................................................ii Chapter 1: Introducing this thesis.............................................1 Undertaking a PhD by published and unpublished work............................................. 1 What this thesis aims to do .......................................................................................... 1 Key questions............................................................................................................... 2 Key concepts ................................................................................................................ 3 How the thesis is structured ....................................................................................... 15 Chronology: Anne Else.............................................................................................. 20 Section One…………………………………………21 Chapter 2: Coming to writing, 1950-1967 ...............................22 Introduction................................................................................................................ 22 Part One: Coming to reading ..................................................................................... 22 Part Two: A good school ........................................................................................... 26 Part Three: Doing English.......................................................................................... 32 Part Four: Losing interest........................................................................................... 37 Chapter 3: Coming to feminism, 1965-1980............................45 Introduction................................................................................................................ 45 Part One: A married mother....................................................................................... 45 Part Two: Sexual politics ........................................................................................... 54 Part Three: The facts of life ....................................................................................... 57 Part Four: Moving away ............................................................................................ 61 iii Chapter 4: Writing women, 1978-1984 ....................................68 Introduction................................................................................................................ 68 Part One: The shock of recognition ........................................................................... 68 Part Two: The withering effect .................................................................................. 72 Part Three: A larger understanding............................................................................ 77 Chapter 5: How to write, 1984-1987.........................................89 Introduction................................................................................................................ 89 Part One: Four notebooks .......................................................................................... 90 Part Two: Finding the subject .................................................................................... 92 Part Three: Oppositional imagining........................................................................... 96 Part Four: Claiming the right to write...................................................................... 100 Part Five: Reconciling philosophy and poetry......................................................... 108 Chapter 6: Writing adoption, 1945-1995 ...............................120 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 120 Part One: Birth and death......................................................................................... 120 Part Two: A question of adoption............................................................................ 122 Part Three: Knowledge and power........................................................................... 126 Section Two……..………………………………. 137 Chapter 7: Gender politics: Before 1984 ..............................138 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 138 Part One: The politics of housework....................................................................... 139 Part Two: “Participation and belonging” ................................................................. 147 Part Three: The unravelling consensus .................................................................... 153 Part Four: Rethinking the state................................................................................. 156 Chapter 8: Women under Labour, 1984-1987 .......................161 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 161 Part One: Seeing the enemy? ................................................................................... 161 iv Part Two: Questioning the state ............................................................................... 168 Part Three: Shifting right ......................................................................................... 176 Chapter 9: To market and home again, 1987-1992...............184 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 184 Part One: Rolling back the state.............................................................................. 184 Part Two: A different discourse ............................................................................... 190 Part Three: Women and social policy...................................................................... 194 Part Four: Gender and the New Right.....................................................................
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