Sara Ahmed
Willful Subjects
Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014

We turn to will. Ahmed writes,

‘What would it mean to offer a queer history of will? Given that the will becomes a technique, a way of holding a subject to account, it could be understood as a straightening device. If we have this understanding of will, we would not be surprised by its queer potential: after all, you only straighten what is already bent. Even when error is treated as what must be corrected, error might be the ground covered by a queer history of will. Recall the etymology of error: from err, meaning to stray. The landscape of will might appear differently, might appear queerly, if we notice how it is littered with waifs and strays..’  p. 7.

Schedule

Unsettled Subjects met to discuss reading this book between May and August 2023

24 May, Introduction: A Willfulness Archive, pp. 1–22.

7 June, Chapter 1: Willing Subjects, pp. 23–58.

21 June, Chapter 2: The Good Will, pp. 59–96.

5 July, Chapter 3: The General Will, pp. 97–132.

19 July, Chapter 4: Willfulness as a Style of Politics, pp. 133–172.

2 August, Conclusion: A Call to Arms, pp. 173–204.

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