Chicana/O Subjectivity and the Politics of Identity

"This book traces the influence of Hegel's theory of recognition on different literary representations of Chicano/a subjectivity, with the aim of demonstrating how the identity thinking characteristic of Hegel's theory is unwillingly reinforced even in subjects that are represented as rebelling against liberal-humanist ideologies. Conversely, the author also analyzes alternative representations that circumvent the shortcomings of Hegelian recognition by redefining universality as founded on the non-identity of the void, thereby foregrounding a more radically inclusive democratic project. Methodologically, the author utilize the anti-humanism of a psychoanalytic-Marxist approach as a means of showing how identity functions as the most fundamental of ideological principles. This re-thinking of subjectivity poses a challenge to identity politics that either advocate the false universality of ideological sameness or promote the celebration of difference as unique and privileged. "--