The Sacred and the Feminine: Imagination and Sexual Difference

by Griselda Pollock, Victoria Turvey-Sauron

Overview

The notion of a special intimacy between 'the feminine and the sacred' has received significant attention since the publication of Julia Kristeva and Catherine Clement's famous ecumenical "Conversation" of the same name which focused on the relationship between meaning and the body at whose interface the feminine is positioned. Brought to the wider public as the 'sacred feminine', it has also made its mark on popular culture. Taking up the debate and moving beyond anthropology or theology, writers from varied ethnic, geo-cultural and religious perspectives here join with secular cultural analysts to explore the sacred and the feminine in art, architecture, literature, art history, music, philosophy, theology, critical theory and cultural studies. The book addresses key issues in feminist questions of creativity, the imaginary and the sacred as 'otherness', exploring the ways in which visual practices have explored this rich, contested and highly charged territory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845115210
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/30/2008
Series:	New Encounters: Arts, Cultures, Concepts
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Griselda Pollock is Professor of Social and Critical Histories of Art, University of Leeds, and Director of the AHRB CentreCATH project. Her numerous books include 'Mary Cassatt', 'Vision and Difference: Femininity, Feminism, and Histories of Art' and, as co-editor, 'Encountering Eva Hesse'. Victoria Turvey-Sauron is an art historian based at CentreCATH, University of Leeds.

Table of Contents

Griselda Pollock Introduction
• Griselda Pollock -- Sacred Cows* Barbara Goff --'The Priestess of Athena Grows a Beard': latent citizenship in Ancient Greek women's ritual practice'
• Daphne Hampson Feminism and Monotheism: Re-Writing 'God'
• Hameeda Banu, Maroof Shah The Sacred and Feminine: An Islamic Perspective
• Ananya Kabir The Feminine, The Sacred and the Shared: The Ecumenical Space of the Sufi Dargah
• Molara Ogundipe African Perspectives on the Sacred and the Feminine: Readings in Yoruba Culture
• Maria Margaroni -- The Becoming-Woman of the East/West Conflict: The Western Sacralisation of Life and the Feminine Politics of Death
• Denise Couture -- The Annunciation of the Christian Goddess and the Concealment of the Other
• Nino Danino -- Film, the Feminine and the Sacred: A Nameless Place
• Ranjana Thalypal -- Sringara Rasa
• Céline Boyer -- Kathleen Raine: Poetry and Myth as Constructions of the Sacred and the Secret
• Maria Aline Seabra Ferreira -- Paula Rego's (Her)etical Visions
• Anne Creissels -- From Léda to Daphné: Sacrifice and virginity in the work of Ana Mendieta
• Victoria Turvey Sauron -- "Inside-out": Sculpting Sacred Space in Bernini and Bourgeois
• Leila McKellar -- The Word Made Flesh: Re-embodying the Madonna and Child
• Vanessa Corby -- Something to Show for It? Creativity and Termination in the Work of Tracey Emin
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