Žižek, Antagonism and Politics Now: Three Recent Controversies
Abstract
This article focuses on three recent controversies in which Žižek has been embroiled and for which he has taken positions that rest on the notion of antagonism. His views on Eurocentrism, the European refugee crisis and trans politics have been the subject of notable disapproval, if not denunciation. Critics reproach him for being Eurocentric, racist and transphobic, charges which he has repeatedly countered. The article will examine the differing theoretical and political positions in these debates, underlining what Žižek’s critics miss or misunderstand about his notion of antagonism. While I side firmly with Žižek on the substance of these issues, I nonetheless consider the extent to which at least part of the disagreement here centres on the performative rather than the strictly “theoretical”: Might his critics be reacting to his overexposure (his writing, speaking, responding so often and so much)? Could such overexposure be interpreted as an attempt at having the last word (ie mastery)? And to what extent does the antagonistic form of Žižek’s interventions (polemics, generalizations) militate against their theoretical content?
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Ahmed, S. (2016) “Progressive Racism,” feministkilljoys, 30 May. Available at: https://feministkilljoys.com/2016/05/30/progressive-racism/. Accessed: 28 June 201).
Alarian, R. (2016) Self-Proclaimed Leftist Slavoj Žižek Makes Right-Wing Remarks About the Syrian Refugee Crisis,
Muftah. Available at: https://muftah.org/self-proclaimed-leftist-slavoj-zizek-makes-right-wing-remarks-about-the-syrian-refugee-crisis/. Accessed: 29 June 2017.
Almond, I. (2012) “Anti-Capitalist Objections to the Postcolonial: Some Conciliatory Remarks on Žižek and Context.”, Ariel: A Review of International English Literature, 43(1). Available at: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ariel/article/view/34988. Accessed: 27 June 2017.
Basu Thakur, G. (2013) “The Menon-Žižek Debate: ‘The Tale of the (Never-marked) (But secretly coded) Universal and the (Always marked) Particular …’,” Slavic Review, 72(4): 750–770.
Butler, J. (1993) Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” New York: Routledge.
Butler, J., Laclau, E. and Žižek, S. (2000) Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left. London: Verso.
Carlson, S. T. (2010) “Transgender Subjectivity and the Logic of Sexual Difference,” differences, 21(2): 46–72.
Cavanagh, S. L. (2016) “Transsexuality as Sinthome: Bracha L. Ettinger and the Other (Feminine) Sexual Difference,” Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 17(1): 27–44. doi: 10.1080/15240657.2016.1135681.
Coffman, C. (2013) “Queering Žižek,” Postmodern Culture, 23(1): 56-73.
Dabashi, H. (2013) “Can Non-Europeans Think?,” Al Jazeera, 15 January.
Dabashi, H. (2015) Can Non-Europeans Think? London: Zed Books.
Dean, T. (2000) Beyond Sexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Douzinas, C. and Žižek, S. (2010) The Idea of Communism. London: Verso.
Eisenstein: and McGowan, T. (2012) Rupture: On the Emergence of the Political. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Fanon, F. (1963) The Wretched of the Earth. Edited by C. Farrington. New York: Grove Press.
Flemming, G. C. (2015) ““By mutual opposition to nothing”,” Angelaki, 20(4): 157–177. doi: 10.1080/0969725X.2015.1096640.
Gilbert, J. (2007) “All the Right Questions, All the Wrong Answers,” in Bowman: and Stamp, R. (eds) The Truth of Žižek. London: Continuum.
Gossett, C. (2016) “Žižek”s Trans/gender Trouble,” Los Angeles Review of Books, 13 September. Available at: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/zizeks-transgender-trouble/. Accessed: 10 August 2017.
Gozlan, O. (2014) Transsexuality and the Art of Transitioning: A Lacanian approach. New York: Routledge.
Hart, W. D. (2002) “Slavoj Zizek and the Imperial/Colonial Model of Religion,” Nepantla: Views from South, 3(3): 553–578.
Hart, W. D. (2003) “Can a Judgment Be Read? A Response to Zizek,” Nepantla: Views from South, 4(1): 191–194.
Khader, J. (2015) “Why Zizek”s Critics are Wrong—and Where They Could Have Gotten it Right,” In These Times, 11 December. Available at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/18683/why-zizeks-critics-are-wrong-and-where-they-could-have-gotten-it-right. Accessed 29 June 2017.
Kotsko, A. (2015) “How to Read Žižek on the Refugee Crisis,” An und für sich, 25 November. Available at: https://itself.blog/2015/11/25/how-to-read-zizek-on-the-refugee-crisis/ . Accessed: 29 June 2017.
Kotsko, A. (2016) “Would not the most radical political intervention for Zizek be precisely to STOP?!,” An und für sich, 23 May. Available at: https://itself.blog/2016/05/23/would-not-the-most-radical-political-intervention-for-zizek-be-precisely-to-stop/ . Accessed: 30 June 2017.
Kriss, S. (2015a) “Building Norway: a critique of Slavoj Žižek,” Idiot Joy Showland, 11 September. Available at: https://samkriss.com/2015/09/11/building-norway-a-critique-of-slavoj-zizek/. Accessed: 2 May 2017.
Kriss, S. (2015b) “Why Slavoj Zizek Is Wrong About the Syrian Refugee Crisis — And Psychoanalysis,” In These Times, 17 November. Available at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/18615/in-defense-of-fantasy-a-response-to-slavoj-zizek. Accessed: 30 June 2017.
Lacan, J. (1977) Écrits: a selection. Translated by A. Sheridan. New York: Norton.
Lacan, J. (1993) The Psychoses: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book III. Reprint edition. Edited by J.-A. Miller. New York: W. W. Norton.
Lacan, J. (1998) Encore: On Feminine Sexuality, the Limits of Love and Knowledge: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book XX. Edited by J.-A. Miller. New York: W. W. Norton.
Lichtenberg-Ettinger, B. (1995) The Matrixial Gaze. Leeds, UK: Feminist Arts and Histories Network, University of Leeds.
Marder, M. (2013) “A post-colonial comedy of errors,” Al Jazeera, 13 April. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/2013314112255761369.html. Accessed 12 June 2017.
Marder, M. and Žižek, S. (2016) “The Breakdown of Rational Argumentation,” The Philosophical Salon, 3 October. Available at: http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/the-breakdown-of-rational-argumentation/ . Accessed: 26 June 2017.
Menon, N. (2010) “The Two Zizeks,” 7 January. Available at: https://kafila.online/2010/01/07/the-two-zizeks/. Accessed: 2 May 2017.
Miell, S. W. (2016a) “A brief further note on Žižek, Lacan, and transsexuality,” Different coloured hats, 6 August. Available at: https://differentcolouredhats.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/slavoj-zizek-is-wrong-about-stuff/. Accessed: 3 April 2017.
Miell, S. W. (2016b) “Interrogating the père”s version: a response to Slavoj Žižek,” Different coloured hats, 15 August. Available at: https://differentcolouredhats.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/slavoj-zizek-is-wrong-about-stuff/. Accessed: 3 April 2017.
Miell, S. W. (2016c) “Slavoj Žižek is wrong about stuff,” Different coloured hats, 3 August. Available at: https://differentcolouredhats.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/slavoj-zizek-is-wrong-about-stuff/. Accessed: 3 April 2017.
Mignolo, W. D. (2013) “Yes, we can: Non-European thinkers and philosophers,” 19 February. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/02/20132672747320891.html. Accessed: 2 May 2017.
Muftah, J. (2016) “Žižek Is Not a Racist Islamophobe,” Muftah, 23 May. Available at: https://muftah.org/zizek-is-not-a-racist-islamophobe/. Accessed: 30 June 2017.
Nigam, A. (2013) “End of Postcolonialism and the Challenge for “Non-European” Thought,” Critical Encounters, 19 May. Available at: https://criticalencounters.net/2013/05/19/end-of-postcolonialism-and-the-challenge-for-non-european-thought/. Accessed: 27 June 2017.
Riemer, N. (2015) “How to Justify a Crisis,” Jacobin, 5 October. Available at: http://jacobinmag.com/2015/10/refugee-crisis-europe-zizek-habermas-singer-greece-syria-academia/. Accessed: 30 June 2017.
Salecl, R. (2000) Sexuation. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Sørensen, E. B. (2015) “Slavoj Žižek: Fortress Europe”s staunch defender on the left,” ROAR Magazine, 29 November. Available at: https://roarmag.org/essays/zizek-refugee-crisis-critique/. Accessed: 30 June 2017.
Spivak, G. C. (1987) In other worlds: essays in cultural politics. New York: Methuen.
Spivak, G. C. (1996) The Spivak Reader: Selected Works of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Edited by D. Landry and G. MacLean. London: Routledge.
Stam, R. and Shohat, E. (2012) Race in translation: culture wars around the postcolonial Atlantic. New York: NYU Press.
Zabala, S. (2012) “Slavoj Zizek and the role of the philosopher,” Al Jazeera, 25 December. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/12/20121224122215406939.html. Accessed 2 July 2017.
Žižek, S. (1989) The sublime object of ideology. London: Verso.
Žižek, S. (1993) Tarrying with the negative: Kant, Hegel, and the critique of ideology. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Žižek, S. (1997) “Multiculturalism, or, the Cultural Logic of Multinational Capitalism,” New Left Review, 225(1): 28-51.
Žižek, S. (1998) “A Leftist Plea for ‘Eurocentrism,’” Critical Inquiry, 24(4): 988–1009.
Žižek, S. (1999) The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology. London: Verso.
Žižek, S. (2001a) On belief. London: Routledge.
Žižek, S. (2001b) The Fragile Absolute or, Why is the Christian Legacy Worth Fighting for? London: Verso.
Žižek, S. (2002a) “A Plea for Leninist Intolerance,” Critical Inquiry, 28(2): 542–566. doi: 10.1086/449051.
Žižek, S. (2002b) “I Pleady Guilty -- But Where Is the Judgment?,” Nepantla: Views from South, 3(3): 579–583.
Žižek, S. (2003) The Puppet and the Dwarf: the Perverse Core of Christianity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Žižek, S. (2004) Iraq: the Borrowed Kettle. London: Verso.
Žižek, S. (2005) “Neighbors and other monsters: a plea for ethical violence,” in Žižek, S., Santner, E. L., and Reinhard, K. (eds) The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Žižek, S. (2006a) How to Read Lacan. London: Granta.
Žižek, S. (2006b) The Parallax View. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (Short circuits.
Žižek, S. (2008) Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. New York: Picador.
Žižek, S. (2009) First as Tragedy, Then as Farce. London: Verso.
Žižek, S. (2010a) Interrogating the Real. Edited by R. Butler and S. Stephens. London: Continuum.
Žižek, S. (2010b) “Multiculturalism, the reality of an illusion,” Lacan.com, 1 September. Available at: http://www.lacan.com/essays/?page_id=454 . Accessed: 27 June 2017.
Žižek, S. (2011) Living in the End Times. London: Verso.
Žižek, S. (2013a) “A Reply to My Critics.” London: Birbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London. Available at: https://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2013/02/slavoj-zizek-a-reply-to-my-critics/. Accessed: 22 June 2017.
Žižek, S. (2013b) Less than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. London: Verso.
Žižek, S. (2015a) “In the Wake of Paris Attacks the Left Must Embrace Its Radical Western Roots,” In These Times, 16 November. Available at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/18605/breaking-the-taboos-in-the-wake-of-paris-attacks-the-left-must-embrace-its. Accessed: 2 May 2017.
Žižek, S. (2015b) “The Non-Existence of Norway,” London Review of Books, 9 September. Available at: https://www.lrb.co.uk/2015/09/09/slavoj-zizek/the-non-existence-of-norway. Accessed: 2 May 2017.
Žižek, S. (2015c) “We Can”t Address the EU Refugee Crisis Without Confronting Global Capitalism,” In These Times, 9 September. Available at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/18385/slavoj-zizek-european-refugee-crisis-and-global-capitalism . Accessed: 29 June 2017.
Žižek, S. (2016a) “A Reply to My Critics,” The Philosophical Salon, 5 August. Available at: http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/the-sexual-is-political/ . Accessed: 2 April 2017.
Žižek, S. (2016b) “Against the Double Blackmail.” Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnGG5xW9_9Y. Accessed: 22 June 2017.
Žižek, S. (2016c) Against the Double Blackmail: Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbours. London: Allen Lane.
Žižek, S. (2016d) “Reply to My Critics, Part Two,” The Philosophical Salon, 14 August. Available at: http://thephilosophicalsalo’.com/the-sexual-is-political/ . Accessed: 2 April 2017.
Žižek, S. (2016e) “Slavoj Žižek: “We are all basically evil, egotistical, disgusting,’” The Guardian, 10 December. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/dec/10/slavoj-zizek-we-are-all-basically-evil-egotistical-disgusting. Accessed: 9 August 2017.
Žižek, S. (2016f) “The Sexual is Political,” The Philosophical Salon, 1 August. Available at: http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/the-sexual-is-political/. Accessed: 2 April 2017.
Žižek, S. and Gunjević, B. (2012) God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2018 Ilan Kapoor
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
IJŽS - 2007 & 2016