Kristeva on Abjection, Misogyny, and the Symbolic-Political Order

Long discussion of Julia Kristeva's The Powers of Horror, with special attention to how her theory of abjection informs political strategies of oppression and exploitation rooted in the body. Our discussion works through the conception of the abject and its relation to misogyny and patriarchal cultural formation and reproduction, with particular attention to the aging feminine body, the "formless" and "plump" girl body (Nabokov's words and example), and how abjection sits at the center of our cultural-political imagination.