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8 From Marginality to Ex-centricity She and I belong to the same sex, even, because there are only two: there should certainly be more. —The House in Paris (Postmodernist Identifications Poststructuralist theorie s of difference an d the cultural break occa sioned b y postmodernis m hav e rendere d an y foundationalis t claims t o universa l validit y politicall y suspec t an d theoreticall y untenable: n o categor y b y whic h individua l huma n being s (how ever provisionally) defin e themselve s can any longer be maintaine d to groun d th e subject . Whethe r specifie d i n term s o f gender , race , class, sexual orientation , o r an y o f th e categories subsume d unde r the by-no w notoriou s phras e "an d s o on, " n o singl e elemen t o f differentiation ca n b e assume d t o for m th e only , o r eve n th e pri mary , foundin g aspec t o f an y identit y define d i n exclusionar y terms. Feminist discourse has functioned centrall y in this epistemological shift in perspective on human subjectivity. 1 The insistenc e o n a differentiate d othernes s notwithstanding , the feminis t projec t i n th e 1990 s continue s t o tak e a s it s startin g point th e historica l existenc e o f "women " or , similarly , t o bas e itself o n th e theoretica l notio n o f th e femal e subject . Indeed , a feminist politic s canno t simpl y d o awa y wit h al l concept s o f (fe 291 292 From Marginality to Ex-centricity male) identity . T o th e exten t tha t gende r function s a s one—bu t clearly not th e only one—of th e mos t pervasive structurin g force s that concretel y affect s eac h o f u s in our individua l lives , this category of identification mus t continue to be posited in order to allo w for a critical analysis of its highly comple x an d diverse operations . Still, a postmodern feminis t critiqu e need s to addres s gende r in it s specific an d intertwinin g relation s t o othe r ideologica l structure s and to analyze their joint effects o n theoretical, sociopolitical levels as muc h a s o n tha t o f subjectiv e experience . Thi s shoul d serv e t o preclude th e (inadvertent ) takeove r b y mainstrea m feminis m o f various disruptive othernesses, including, most notably, differences in sexua l orientatio n a s wel l a s ethni c an d racia l differences i n terms other than black . The postmoder n celebratio n o f differenc e ha s le d no t s o muc h to th e "dispersa l o f th e subject" a s to a recognition o f it s multipl e inscription i n a rang e o f contingen t an d intersectin g discursiv e structures. Fa r fro m resultin g i n a "vie w fro m nowhere," 2 post modernism has necessitated a conscious and explicit contextualiza tion o f an y discursiv e positio n o r critica l perspective.3 Contempo rary literary theory starts from th e premise that signifying practice s play a constitutiv e rol e i n th e formatio n o f wha t i s i n effec t a n idealization: tha t "slipper y fish" calle d identity . Curren t feminis t theory ha s become , i n th e word s o f Teres a d e Lauretis , n o mor e and n o les s than a "politic s o f self-representation." 4 Bu t the insistence o n th e heterogeneit y o f th e processe s o f significatio n tha t both structur e an d deconstruc t suc h representations ha s als o com pelled feminism t o be a "politics of location" in the widest sense of the term . Rathe r tha n a "resistanc e t o th e recognitio n tha t on e i s always somewhere," a s Susan...

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