Fantasies of Identification: Disability, Gender, Race

Cultural Front

by Ellen Samuels

In the mid-nineteenth-century United States, as it became increasingly difficult to distinguish between bodies understood as black, white, or Indian; able-bodied or disabled; and male or female, intense efforts emerged to define these identities as biologically distinct and scientifically verifiable in a literally marked body. Combining literary analysis, legal history, and visual culture, Ellen Samuels traces the evolution of the “fantasy of identification”—the powerful belief that embodied social identities are fixed, verifiable, and visible through modern science. From birthmarks and fingerprints to blood quantum and DNA, she examines how this fantasy has circulated between cultural representations, law, science, and policy to become one of the most powerfully institutionalized ideologies of modern society.

Yet, as Samuels demonstrates, in every case, the fantasy distorts its claimed scientific basis, substituting subjective language for claimed objective fact. From its early emergence in discourses about disability fakery and fugitive slaves in the nineteenth century to its most recent manifestation in the question of sex testing at the 2012 Olympic Games, Fantasies of Identification explores the roots of modern understandings of bodily identity.

Genres: Disability, Disability Studies, Nonfiction, Race, History, Queer, Gender

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 25, 2014

About the author

Ellen Samuels is a disability writer and scholar and Associate Professor of Gender & Women's Studies and English at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Really struggled on how to rate this. Interesting ideas, but the literary analysis method really didn't work for me so I ended up skipping a few chapters. I kind of feel like this is the type of academic reading that's aimed at undergraduates who only want to read one chapter. But if that's the case, why not just make it a series of articles? I mean, I know why -- the author teaches English and that disciple values books over articles. And Madison has some really goofy-restrictive tenure requirements. I really wish publish or perish would die. Anyway, rounding up because I did learn new things/new ways of looking at things, and I always appreciate that. The whole biocertification thing was fascinating, even though the presentation was both disjointed and repetitive.

[shakemountains]

I read two articles from this book, but you can't just mark singular essays as read on goodreads ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Baixei este livro junto com o Female Masculinity, do Jack Halberstam, pensando que poderia me ajudar um pouco com minha pesquisa sobre a relação ente fantasia e gênero. Na verdade, o começo do livro, na introdução, fala um tanto sobre isso, mas acaba restrito a isso. Como diz o subtítulo, ele se concentra muito mais em discutir como as deficiências físicas, as identidades de gênero e as presunções raciais acabam se relacionando com a forma de estabelecermos rótulos sobre as pessoas. Entretanto, essa discussão acontece muito mais de modo histórico e da apresentação de casos do que exatamente uma análise que faça uma relação com aquilo que foi apresentado na introdução, como o conceito de fantasias de identificação. Eu gostaria que tivesse um tanto mais de discussão teórica dentro deste livro, afinal esse é um tema bastante interessante. Infelizmente nem os temas abordados e nem o estilo de escrita me capturaram.

[ML Character · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite (meaning, most useful, most smart and enlightening) academic book of about 2015-2023 when I finally got another one to add to the list (Sexuality Beyond Consent by Avgi Saketopoulo). This book's premise about "Fantasies of Identification" is just so smart, clear, and supported admirably by great examples that mix race, gender, and disability throughout. I teach it a lot and cited it in my book.

[Peacefulbookery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and important.

[Mills College Library]

305.908 S1937 2014