Papers by Blase A . Provitola
TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2022
French lesbian author and theorist Monique Wittig’s early contestations of woman as the subject o... more French lesbian author and theorist Monique Wittig’s early contestations of woman as the subject of feminism have played an important role in gender studies in both anglophone and francophone spaces. Since the mid-1990s, French lesbian studies scholars and queer theorists alike have looked to her to anchor their contestations of normative sexuality within a French tradition and counter some of the universalizing aspects of Anglocentric queer theory. As a result, polarizing debates have sprung up over interpretations of Wittigian political lesbianism, typically focusing on divergent readings of her theorization of sex and gender between radical lesbians on the one hand and queer theorists on the other. However, far less attention has been paid to the implications of such debates for transgender studies. Since she has been claimed by trans-exclusionary radical feminists as well as by queer and materialist transfeminists in France, her legacy serves as a rich site through which to understand how the ideological conflicts between those groups relate to feminist history. Taking as a point of departure the appropriation of her name by the anti-trans group Résistance Lesbienne (Lesbian Resistance) that took over the 2021 Paris Pride March, this article fleshes out the implications of her work concerning the place of transgender people, and especially transgender women, in feminist spaces. Ultimately, it is her complexity that makes her a crucial figure for transgender studies insofar as she elucidates French “gender-critical” feminism and its transfeminist critics.
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Modern & Contemporary France, 2019
This article analyses the little-known contributions of a Paris-based activist group of self-iden... more This article analyses the little-known contributions of a Paris-based activist group of self-identified lesbians of colour, the Groupe du 6 novembre, which formed in 1999. Their self-published anthology, entitled Warriors/Guerrières, contests the racism of French feminist and LGBT community and culture and examines sexual minority visibility through an intersectional lens. This anthology was unfortunately contested and all but censored by organisations that purportedly sought to promote lesbian culture and self- expression. The Groupe du 6 novembre’s erasure is symptomatic of the ways in which the seemingly laudable aim of combating lesbian invisibility—within both scholarship and activism—can actually serve to marginalise racialised lesbians. Through close readings of the Groupe’s poetry and prose and documentation of their history, this article will argue that dominant conceptions of lesbian sexual identity are imbued with liberal racism and Republican universalism. At a time of increasing concern that certain forms of feminist and LGBT politics are being co-opted by the State to racist ends, the Groupe du 6 novembre constitutes an essential chapter in French feminist history and literature.
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H-France Salon, 2019
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Romanic Review, 2015
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Book Reviews by Blase A . Provitola
INSEP – Journal of the International Network for Sexual Ethics & Politics, 2020
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Politics, Religion & Ideology, 2016
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Book chapters by Blase A . Provitola
Diversity and Decolonization in French Studies: New Approaches to Teaching, 2022
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Devenir non-binaire en français contemporain, 2022
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Papers by Blase A . Provitola
Book Reviews by Blase A . Provitola
Book chapters by Blase A . Provitola