Publication date:
15 March 2011Length of book:
206 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
239x163mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739149867
Democratic Anxieties: Same-Sex Marriage, Death, and Citizenship proceeds from the surprising parallels between straight and gay opponents of same-sex marriage. With their apocalyptic rhetoric they inadvertently point to a frequently neglected, existential dimension of democratic citizenship. Democratic Anxieties argues that we must pay attention to the existential significance of democratic citizenship, because otherwise we end up with anxious democracy-a democracy that cannot fully embrace pluralism, especially when the connections between sex, death, and citizenship are at stake. This book pursues a less anxious conception of democratic citizenship in chapters on Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Hannah Arendt, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Feit reveals how Rousseau diminishes democratic citizenship by linking it to existential consolation via sexual reproduction. He interprets Arendt as a queer theorist, because she rejects the heteronormative pursuit of reproductive immortality. Yet, the hope for immortality persists within Arendt's conception of political action, which delimits its democratic potential. Feit argues that Nietzsche resists both Rousseau's political idealization of heterosexuality and Arendt's anxious alternative. Calling for an affirmation of death, Nietzsche, creatively reimagines sexual as well as cultural reproduction, that is, pluralizes democratic citizenship. The resulting, more existentially aware democratic politics not only contributes to lesbian and gay equality, but is also critical in a post-September 11 world.
Feit discovers heteronormativity in Rousseau's account of citizenship, suggesting he employs unease about death as a way to direct the sexuality of citizens toward reproduction, which allows the community to continue and to express consent. Feit's Hannah Arendt rejects this heteronormativity but does not overcome the anxiety about death that gives rise to it, thus leaving entire areas of life separate from politics. Feit's Nietzsche promotes a pluralism that lacks the anxieties of Rousseau or Arendt, accepts death, and allows for what Feit calls 'queer forms of reproduction.' His discussions of Rousseau, Arendt, and Nietzsche are ministerial to his engagement with contemporary queer theory and the question of same-sex marriage and citizenship. The strength of Feit's work ultimately lies in his own engagements with queer theory, and the true value of the book is the originality of his account of the disagreement over same-sex marriage, which could have been expanded. Best for advanced students and scholars working on questions of citizenship and same-sex marriage; the book may be too theoretically advanced for undergraduates.