Contradiction as Agency: Self-Determination, Transcendence, and Counter-Imagination in Third Wave Feminism

DOI: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01029.x
"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: "Contradiction as Agency: Self-Determination, Transcendence, and Counter-Imagination in Third Wave Feminism", which has been published in final form at onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01029.x/abstract . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."

Renegar, Valerie R.

Sowards, Stacey K.

2018-02-26

2018-02-26

2009

RENEGAR, V. A. L. E. R. I. E. R., & SOWARDS, S. T. A. C. E. Y. K. (April 01, 2009). Contradiction as Agency: Self-Determination, Transcendence, and Counter-Imagination in Third Wave Feminism. Hypatia, 24, 2, 1-20.

https://collections.southwestern.edu/s/suscholar/item/491

This essay examines the contradictions often found in third wave feminist texts that
function as strategic choices that may shape, foster, and enhance an individual’s sense
of agency. Many third wave feminists utilize contradiction as a way to understand
emergent identities, to develop new ways of thinking, and to imagine new forms of

social action. Agency, then, stems from the use of contradiction as a means of self-
determination and identity, of transcendence of seemingly forced or dichotomous

choices, and counter-imaginations of a better future.

English

Hypatia

Third wave feminism

Feminist literary theory

Feminism

Political rhetoric

Classical rhetoric

Article

Faculty Scholarship