to those who know
Copyright © Linda Martín Alcoff 2018
The right of Linda Martín Alcoff to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2018 by Polity Press
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ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9191-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9192-3 (pb)
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I have been fortunate to participate in numerous support groups for survivors over the years, in Providence, Kalamazoo, and Syracuse. Some of these were organized formally by social service organizations and some simply by activists. Here I was able to witness as well as take part in the collective and tentative process of developing an understanding. The memories of our many conversations have stayed with me for years. I have given portions of the arguments of this book at numerous conferences, colleges, and universities, in several countries around the world, always with private conversations afterward with members of the audience. I want to express my thanks to all of those who have shared their stories and their analyses with me.
I have also discussed these topics with numerous colleagues and friends over the years to my great benefit, including especially Ann Cahill, Laura Gray-Rosendale, Raja Halwani, Jamie Lindsay, Ingeborg Majer-O’Sickey, Sarah Clark Miller, Robert Praeger, and Steven Seidman.
Finally, I owe a special debt to the following people: to my family for their million acts of support and kindness; to Laura Gray-Rosendale for venturing to collaborate on this difficult topic with me many years ago; and to Amber Chiacchieri for working incredibly hard as my research assistant and also giving me sound feedback on many theoretical points. I want to also thank Sarah Gokhale for preparing the excellent index, and Sam Alcoff and Anna Gold for their helpful ideas for the cover design.
Chapter 2, “The Thorny Question of Experience,” is largely based on the essay “Sexual Violations and the Question of Experience.” Copyright © New Literary History, The University of Virginia. This article first appeared in New Literary History Volume 45, Issue 3 (Summer 2014), pages 445–62. Chapter 3, “Norming Sexual Practices,” draws in part from “Dangerous Pleasures: Foucault and the Politics of Pedophilia,” in Feminist Interpretations of Michel Foucault, edited by Susan J. Hekman (University Park: Pennsylvania University Press, 1996), pages 99–136. Copyright © The Pennsylvania State University. Chapter 5, “Decolonizing Terms,” is largely based on “Discourses of Sexual Violence in a Global Framework. Copyright © Philosophical Topics. This article first appeared in Philosophical Topics Volume 37, Issue 2 (Fall 2009), pages 123–40. A much earlier version of Chapter 6, “Speaking ‘as’,” appeared, co-authored with Laura Gray (now Laura Gray-Rosendale), as “Survivor Discourse: Transgression or Recuperation?” Copyright © SIGNS. This article first appeared in SIGNS Volume 18, Issue 2 (Winter 1993), pages 260–90.