(Re)mapping women’s cosmology : transformative potentia of women’s stories : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Whanganui-a-tara/Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand

Simple item page
dc.confidentialEmbargo : No
dc.contributor.advisorCoombes, Leigh
dc.contributor.authorWass, Thea
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-29T22:32:59Z
dc.date.available2024-08-29T22:32:59Z
dc.date.issued2023-06-30
dc.description.abstractBinary difference is deeply rooted within the heart of European philosophy and underpins contemporary understandings of sexual difference. Forces of power relations circulate to uphold binary categories of gender that conflates man with the universal, upholding a single model of male subjectivity and inscribing meaning onto the bodies of women. In this research, I have engaged with a narrative approach to map a cosmology of ten women’s stories, connecting women’s bodies and experiences to the flow of forces that shape their lives through a complex assemblage of cultural practices. Thinking with Rosie Braidotti I have endeavoured to sketch a cartography of the multiple embedded, embodied and affective social positions constituted by forces operational in, and immanent to the production and circulation of knowledge about sexual difference. Relational ethics in feminist standpoint inquiry enabled me to attend to relational processes which contributed to the co-articulation of these stories, and to open out towards the multiple possibilities available outside established hierarchical categories of gendered subjectivities. Through this process, light is cast on the material conditions in which forces come to inscribe and inhabit women’s bodies as flows of power capable of both “entrapment (potestas) and as empowerment (potentia)” (Braidotti, 2019). This research resists phallogocentric notions of the universal by re-orienting towards the affirmative potential of women’s bodies made available through interconnectedness and ethical transformation in processes of becoming. By paying attention to the situated and affirmatively encompassing differences within and between women, bodies can be understood as a site of resistance and transformation.
dc.identifier.urihttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/71398
dc.publisherMassey University
dc.rightsThe Author
dc.subjectSex role
dc.subjectPatriarchy
dc.subjectPsychological aspects
dc.subjectWomen
dc.subjectPsychology
dc.subjectAnecdotes
dc.subjectSelf-actualization (Psychology) in women
dc.subjectMale domination (Social structure)
dc.subjectDominance (Psychology)
dc.subjectPower (Social sciences)
dc.subjectsexual difference
dc.subjectpower relations
dc.subjectrelational ethics
dc.subjectfeminist standpoint
dc.subjectcartography (Psychology)
dc.subject.anzsrc441010 Sociology of gender
dc.subject.anzsrc520302 Clinical psychology
dc.title(Re)mapping women’s cosmology : transformative potentia of women’s stories : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Whanganui-a-tara/Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand
thesis.degree.disciplineCollege of Humanities & Social Sciences
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Clinical Psychology
thesis.description.doctoral-citation-abridgedForces of power relations circulate to uphold binary categories of gendered subjectivities that underpin contemporary understandings of sexual difference. Mapping a cosmology from ten women’s stories, women’s bodies and experiences are connected to the complex assemblage of cultural practices that come to inscribe and inhabit their bodies and lives. Through affirmation of difference, light is cast on the affirmative potential of women’s bodies
thesis.description.doctoral-citation-longForces of power relations circulate to uphold binary categories of gendered subjectivities that underpin contemporary understandings of sexual difference. A narrative approach guides the mapping of a cosmology from ten women’s stories, connecting women’s bodies and experiences to the complex assemblage of cultural practices that come to inscribe and inhabit women’s bodies and lives. By paying attention to the situated, and affirmatively encompassing difference, light is cast on the affirmative potential of women’s bodies made available through relational processes of interconnectedness and ethical transformation in processes of becoming.
thesis.description.name-pronounciationTHEA WOSS
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
WassDClinPsychThesis.pdf
Size:
1009.14 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Theses and Dissertations