(Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 2016-10-14) Palmer-Mehta, Valerie
This article investigates the discursive register through which lives
become grievable by focusing on a case study of the discourses
surrounding the death of radical feminist, Andrea Dworkin. I argue
that Dworkin becomes embroiled in an interlocking nexus of illicit
subject positions that set the terms of her grievability and
obstruct recognition of her as a rational being by framing her (1)
as the quintessential emotional and irrational woman who is not
worthy of the respect typically offered to the dead and (2) in
relation to her wild, unruly, and excessive body, which is conflated
with her feral work.