Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T05:25:23.081Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kinship Trouble: Antigone's Claim and the Politics of Heteronormativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2007

Terrell Carver  and
Samuel A. Chambers
Terrell Carver
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
Samuel A. Chambers
Affiliation:
Swansea University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Heteronormativity has recently emerged as a fully shaped and well theorized concept in numerous fields, and it proves central to sexual politics and the politics of sexuality. In Antigone's Claim (2000), Judith Butler explores the heteronormativity of kinship as structured by the state, and she links this language of kinship to the incest taboo. This article focuses on Butler's politicization of kinship structures in her reading of the figure of Antigone. Because she sees the incest taboo as a social force that maintains heteronormativity by producing a particular configuration of the family, Butler advances the critique of heteronormativity. She does this through both her introduction and explication of the concept of (un)intelligibility and her explicit attention to the “incest born” person. The unintelligibility of the incest-born demands a thoroughgoing reconsideration of the liberal framework of tolerance: The unintelligible cannot be tolerated because they have not even been granted access to the category of the human. By asking us to reconsider kinship outside the defining and dominant terms of heteronormativity and the incest taboo, Butler promotes a distinct conception of politics. She thereby makes a noteworthy contribution to the political project of undoing gender hierarchy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 427 - 449
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agar, Nicholas. 2004. Liberal Eugenics: In Defense of Human Enhancement. Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arens, William. 1997. “Incest Taboos.” In The Dictionary of Anthropology, ed. Barfield, Thomas. Oxford: Blackwell, 257–59.Google Scholar
Babst, Gordon A. 2002. Liberal Constitutionalism, Marriage, and Sexual Orientation: A Contemporary Case for Dis-establishment. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Benhabib, Seyla. 1995. “Feminism and Postmodernism: An Uneasy Alliance.” In Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange. New York and London: Routledge, 17–34.Google Scholar
Benhabib, Seyla. 2002. The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bittles, A. H. 2001. “A Background Summary of Consanguineous Marriage.” Perth, Australia: Centre for Human Genetics, Edith Cowan University.Google Scholar
Bittles, A. H., et al. 1988. “Inbreeding in Human Populations: Assessment of the Costs.” In Human Mating Patterns, ed. Mascie-Taylor, C. G. N. and Boyce, A. J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 153–67.Google Scholar
Bittles, A. H., et al. 2001. “Human Inbreeding: A Familiar Story Full of Surprises.” In Ethnicity and Health, ed. Macbeth, H. and Shetty, P.. London: Taylor & Francis, 68–78.Google Scholar
Blasius, Mark. 1994. Gay and Lesbian Politics: Sexuality and the Emergence of a New Ethic. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Blasius, Mark, ed. 2001. Sexual Identities, Queer Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, Wendy. 2006. Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Burns, Tony. 2002. “Sophocles' Antigone and the History of the Concept of Natural Law.” Political Studies 50 (August): 545–57.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1987a. Subjects of Desire. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1987b. “Variations on Sex and Gender: Beauvoir, Wittig, Foucault.” In Feminism as Critique, ed. Benhabib, Seyla and Cornell, Drucilla. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1989. “Gendering the Body: Beauvoir's Philosophical Contribution.” In Women, Knowledge, and Reality: Explorations in Feminist Philosophy, ed. Garry, Ann and Pearsall, Marilyn. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 253–62.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1993. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1995. “Contingent Foundations: Feminism and the Question of ‘Postmodernism.’” In Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange, ed. Benhabib, SeylaNew York and London: Routledge, 35–58.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1997a. Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1997b. The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, Judith 1997c. “Against Proper Objects.” In Feminism Meets Queer Theory. ed. Weed, Elizabeth and Schor, Naomi. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1–30.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. [1990] 1999. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, 2d ed.London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 2000a. Antigone's Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 2000b. “Politics, Power and Ethics: A Discussion between Judith Butler and William Connolly.” Theory & Event http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theory_and_event/v004/4.2butler.html (August 12, 2007) 4 (2)Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 2004a. Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence. New York and London: Verso.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 2004b. Undoing Gender. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith, Laclau, Ernesto, and Zizek, Slavoj. 2000. Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Carver, Terrell. 2007. “‘Trans’ Trouble.” In The Future of Gender, ed. Jude, Browne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 116–35.Google Scholar
Carver, Terrell, and Mottier, Véronique, eds. 1998. Politics of Sexuality: Identity, Gender, Citizenship. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chambers, Samuel A. 2003a. “Telepistemology of the Closet: Or, the Queer Politics of Six Feet Under.” Journal of American Culture 26 (1): 24–41.Google Scholar
Chambers, Samuel A. 2003b. “Ghostly Rights.” Cultural Critique 54: 148–77.Google Scholar
Chambers, Samuel 2006. “Cultural Politics and the Practice of Fugitive Theory.” Contemporary Political Theory 5.1: 9–32.Google Scholar
Chambers, Samuel A. 2007. “‘An Incalculable Effect’: Subversions of Heteronormativity.” Political Studies 55 (3): 1–24.Google Scholar
Chambers, Samuel and Carver, Terrell. 2008. The Political Theory of Judith Butler: Troubling Politics. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Connell, R. W. 2002. Gender. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Coole, Diana. 2005. “Rethinking Agency: A Phenomenological Approach to Embodiment and Agentic Capacities.” Political Studies 53 (1): 124–42.Google Scholar
Currah, Paisley. 2001. “Queer Theory, Lesbian and Gay Rights, and Transsexual Marriages.” In Sexual Identities, Queer Politics, ed. Blasius, Mark. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 178–99.Google Scholar
de Lauretis, Teresa. 1987. Technologies of Gender. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Dennis, J. 2003. “Heteronormativity.” In Men and Masculinities: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia, ed. Kimmel, Michael. New York: ABC-CLIO, 109–10.Google Scholar
Edelman, Lee. 2004. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Durham and London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, Jeanette. 2004. “Incorporating Incest: Gamete, Body and Relation in Assisted Conception.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 10 (4): 755–74.Google Scholar
Elden, Stuart. 2005. “The Place of the Polis: Political Blindness in Judith Butler's Antigone's Claim.” Theory & Event http://www.muse.jhu/edu/journals/theory_and_event/v008/8.1elden.html (August 12, 2007) 8 (1).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, David T. 1993. Sexual Citizenship: The Material Construction of Sexualities. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. 2000. Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1978. History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction. Trans. Hurley, Robert. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Goodenough, Patrick. 2004. “Legalize Incest Suggestion Shocks Lawmakers.” http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200405%5CCUL20040521a.html (July 18, 2005).Google Scholar
Halley, Janet. 1993. “The Construction of Heterosexuality.” In Fear of a Queer Planet, ed. Warner, Michael. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 82–102.Google Scholar
Halperin, David. 1995. Saint Foucault: Toward a Gay Hagiography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
hooks, bell. 1982. Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. London: Pluto.Google Scholar
Hutchings, K. 2003. Hegel and Feminist Philosophy. London: Polity.Google Scholar
Jackson, Stevi. 1999. Heterosexuality in Question. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Josephson, Jyl. 2005. “Citizenship, Same-Sex Marriage, and Feminist Critiques of Marriage.” Perspectives on Politics 3 (2): 269–84.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Morris. 1997. Sexual Justice: Democratic Citizenship and the Politics of Desire. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Katz, Jonathan N, ed. 1995. The Invention of Heterosexuality. New York: Dutton.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Maev. “Say I Do, Judges Rule after Overturning British Legal Bar on Marrying the In-law,” The Guardian, Section 1, 14 September, 2005.Google Scholar
Lehr, Valerie. 1999. Queer Family Values: Debunking the Myth of the Nuclear Family. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Lloyd, Moya. 1999. “Performativity, Parody, Politics.” Theory, Culture and Society 16 (2): 195–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd, Moya. 2005. “Butler, Antigone and the State.” Contemporary Political Theory 4 (4): 451–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markell, Patchen. 2003. Bound by Recognition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mendus, Susan. 1989. Toleration and the Limits of Liberalism. Basingstoke: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Mendus, Susan, ed. 1988. Justifying Toleration: Conceptual and Historical Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mendus, Susan, and Edwards, David, eds. 1987. On Toleration. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Mendus, Susan, and Horton, John, eds. 1985. Aspects of Toleration: Philosophical Studies. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha. 1999. “The Professor of Parody.” The New Republic Online. February. http://www.tnr.com/archive/0299/022299/nussbaum022299.htm (August 5, 2004).Google Scholar
Pateman, Carole. 1988. The Sexual Contract. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Petchesky, Rosalind Pollack. 2001. “Sexual Rights: Inventing a Concept, Mapping an International Practice.” In Sexual Identities, Queer Politics, ed. Blasius, Mark. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 118–39.Google Scholar
Phelan, Shane. 2001. Sexual Strangers: Gays, Lesbians, and Dilemmas of Citizenship. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Rancière, Jacques. 1999. Disagreement: Politics and Philosophy. Trans. Rose, Julie. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rich, Adrienne. 1980. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 5 (4): 631–60.Google Scholar
Rubin, Gayle. 1975. “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of ‘Sex.’” In Toward an Anthropology of Women, ed. Reiter, Rayna R.. New York and London: Monthly Review Press, 157–210.Google Scholar
Rubin, Gayle. 1997. “Sexual Traffic Interview.” In Feminism Meets Queer Theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 68–108.Google Scholar
Salih, Sara. 2002. Judith Butler: Essential Guides for Literary Studies. Routledge.Google Scholar
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. 1991. Epistemology of the Closet. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Seery, John 2004. “Acclaim for Antigone's Claim Reconsidered.” Unpublished paper presented to the Association for Political Theory, Annual MeetingColorado Springs, CO.Google Scholar
Segura, Gary M., et al. 2005. “A Symposium on the Politics of Same-Sex Marriage.” PS: Political Science and Politics 38 (2): 189–239.Google Scholar
Shanley, Mary Lyndon. 2004. Just Marriage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sophocles, 1967. The Complete Plays of Sophocles. Trans. Jebb, R Claverhouse, ed. Hadas, Moses. Bantam: New York.Google Scholar
Steiner, George. 1984. Antigones. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Stevens, Jacqueline. 1999. Reproducing the State. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Stone, Alison. 2005. “Towards a Genealogical Feminism: A Reading of Judith Butler's Political Thought.” Contemporary Political Theory 4 (1): 4–24.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 1992. Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition: An Essay. ed. Gutmann, Amy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Tralau, Johan. 2005. “Tragedy as Political Theory: The Self-Destruction of Antigone's Laws.” History of Political Thought 26 (4): 377–96.Google Scholar
Tyrrell, William B., and Bennett, Larry. 1998. Recapturing Sophocles' Antigone. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Warner, Michael. 1993. Fear of a Queer Planet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Warner, Michael. 1999. The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Watney, Simon. 1996. Policing Desire: AIDS, Pornography, and the Media, 3d ed.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Weeks, Jeffrey, et al. 2001. Same-sex Intimacies: Families of Choice and Other Life Experiments. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Weston, Kath. 1991. Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Angelia, ed. 1995. A Simple Matter of Justice: Theorizing Lesbian and Gay Politics. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
Wittig, Monique. 1992. The Straight Mind and Other Essays. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 2002. Inclusion and Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar