The Politics of Iterability: Benhabib, the Hijab, and Democratic Iterations

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Politics of Iterability: Benhabib, the Hijab, and Democratic Iterations

AU - Thomassen, Lasse

PY - 2011/1

Y1 - 2011/1

N2 - In her recent work, Seyla Benhabib has appropriated Jacques Derrida's notion of iterabilityor iteration in Benhabib's terminologywhereby repetition always implies alteration. This gives her a dynamic conception of democracy and citizenship that is sensitive to otherwise excluded constituencies. Nevertheless, I take issue with the ways in which Benhabib limits the effects of iterability. She does so by separating the transformative effects of iterability from, first, the content of universal constitutional principles and, second, the subject understood as narrative ability. This gives rise to some theoretical difficulties, but it also has practical implications, which I illustrate in the context of the debates about the hijab, which Benhabib also discusses at length. I argue that Benhabib depoliticizes the universals and takes the agency of the subject as given when these should be in question.

AB - In her recent work, Seyla Benhabib has appropriated Jacques Derrida's notion of iterabilityor iteration in Benhabib's terminologywhereby repetition always implies alteration. This gives her a dynamic conception of democracy and citizenship that is sensitive to otherwise excluded constituencies. Nevertheless, I take issue with the ways in which Benhabib limits the effects of iterability. She does so by separating the transformative effects of iterability from, first, the content of universal constitutional principles and, second, the subject understood as narrative ability. This gives rise to some theoretical difficulties, but it also has practical implications, which I illustrate in the context of the debates about the hijab, which Benhabib also discusses at length. I argue that Benhabib depoliticizes the universals and takes the agency of the subject as given when these should be in question.

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0032-3497

VL - 43

SP - 128

EP - 149

JO - Polity

JF - Polity

IS - 1

ER -