Anonymity and Feminist Identity

The valorization of anonymity is both unexpected and convincing, even in an age of anxiety over mass surveillance and digital masking of identity. The way in which the text opens up a multiplicity of ways of thinking anonymity in a feminist context, drawing on philosophers from Leibniz to Husserl to Bergson to Fanon, and literary figures from Morrison to Atwood to Beauvoir’s own novels, displays the stunning range of Hengehold’s investigation. Anonymity is analyzed with respect to the (Hegelian) fight for distinctness and recognition, considering both its dangers and the opportunities it affords for women and other marginalized groups. – Elaine P. Miller, Miami University
There is so much confusion in current scholarship about questions of identity and the extent to which they should be mobilized for political action. This very much needed book shows how de Beauvoir’s philosophy can illuminate the tension between individuality and collective action. The result is a compelling account of how identity can remain open, relational and contested, while still supporting feminist solidarity and collective struggles. – Chiara Bottici, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
In this rich and thought-provoking intervention, Laura Hengehold brilliantly brings Beauvoir’s life and philosophy into dialogue with other thinkers to illuminate the problem of anonymity and individuation. Particularly attentive to historical contexts and to women’s positions within the university, the study invites necessary reflection on feminist research ethics: a much needed challenge to the competitive individualism of neoliberal academia. – Marine Rouch, University Toulouse - Jean Jaurès

Laura Hengehold is Professor of Philosophy at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, USA. She has published numerous articles on political philosophy, feminist philosophy, and philosophy of sexuality using perspectives from Continental European and African thinkers. She is the author of The Body Problematic: Kant and Foucault on Political Imagination (Penn State University Press, 2007), Simone de Beauvoir’s Philosophy of Individuation (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), and co-editor of The Blackwell Companion to Simone de Beauvoir (Blackwell/Polity, 2017). She has also edited, co-edited, and translated works of Francophone African philosophy, including authors Jean Godefroy Bidima, Seloua Luste Boulbina, and Dénétem Touam Bona.

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