Differences that Matter

New theory of relationship between feminism and postmodernism, using close readings of literature, film, ethics.

Sara Ahmed challenges the theorising which asks 'is/should feminism be modern or postmodern?' Rather than allow postmodernism to dictate feminist debates, she uses close reading to argue that feminism must itself ask questions of postmodernism and not position it as a generalisable condition of the world.Differences That Matter challenges existing ways of theorising the relationship between feminism and postmodernism which ask 'is or should feminism be modern or postmodern?' Sara Ahmed suggests that postmodernism has been allowed to dictate feminist debates and calls instead for feminist theorists to speak (back) to postmodernism, rather than simply speak on (their relationship to) it. Such a 'speaking back' involves a refusal to position postmodernism as a generalisable condition of the world and requires closer readings of what postmodernism is actually 'doing' in a variety of disciplinary contexts. Sara Ahmed hence examines constructions of postmodernism in relation to rights, ethics, subjectivity, authorship, meta-fiction and film.