ABOUT THIS BOOK

In Considering Emma Goldman Clare Hemmings examines the significance of the anarchist activist and thinker for contemporary feminist politics. Rather than attempting to resolve the tensions and problems that Goldman's thinking about race, gender, and sexuality pose for feminist thought, Hemmings embraces them, finding them to be helpful in formulating a new queer feminist praxis. Mining three overlapping archives—Goldman's own writings, her historical and theoretical legacy, and an imaginative archive that responds creatively to gaps in those archives —Hemmings shows how serious engagement with Goldman's political ambivalences opens up larger questions surrounding feminist historiography, affect, fantasy, and knowledge production. Moreover, she explores her personal affinity for Goldman to illuminate the role that affective investment plays in shaping feminist storytelling. By considering Goldman in all her contradictions and complexity, Hemmings presents a queer feminist response to the ambivalences that also saturate contemporary queer feminist race theories.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Clare Hemmings is Professor of Feminist Theory and Director of the Department of Gender Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the author and coeditor of several books, including Why Stories Matter: The Political Grammar of Feminist Theory, also published by Duke University Press.

REVIEWS

"Incredibly thorough and deeply researched, Considering Emma Goldman is a valuable continuation in conversations of feminist theory, race, capitalism, sexuality, and of course Emma Goldman herself."

-- Sarah Moazeni American Communist History

"Hemmings offers a rich, complex and searching new engagement with Goldman’s life and politics. . . . By considering Goldman, Hemmings shines a light on a life lived with panache to urge continuing, unbound and imperfect engagement with the dilemmas that feminists too often struggle to resolve."

-- Ruth Kinna LSE Review of Books

"Clare Hemmings has written a rich and thoughtful book from which we can learn a great deal."

-- Kathy F. Ferguson Theory & Event

"Considering Emma Goldman is a must-read, invariably insightful, sometimes painful, always provocative and, in my humble opinion, uncomfortably spot-on."

-- Kathy Davis European Journal of Women's Studies

"Clare Hemmings is an extremely astute reader and user of both the subjective and the critical archive on Emma Goldman. She is as well-versed in the literature as one could possibly hope. She is a passionate and determined author. Too, she is convincing that we should turn to rather than away from uncomfortable passages in those whose work we study, as these are potentially among the more fruitful, revealing moments."

-- Penny Weiss Hypatia Reviews Online

"This volume challenges us to be willing to take risks—as Goldman did—both in our theorizing and in our lives, and to highlight and examine the contradictions we experience, rather than denying them."

-- Martha Ackelsberg American Historical Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Women and Revolution 37
2. Race and Internationalism 80
3. Sexual Politics and Sexual Freedom 125
4. A Longing for Letters 168
Conclusion: From Passion to Panache 217
Notes 237
References 259
Index 285

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