Creative Becoming and the Patiency of Matter: Feminism, New Materialism and Theology

Haynes, Patrice (2014) Creative Becoming and the Patiency of Matter: Feminism, New Materialism and Theology. Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, 19 (1). pp. 129-150.

Text Creative Becoming and the Patiency of Matter draft 4.doc Download (143kB)

Abstract

So-called ‘new materialism’ enables feminist theorists to emphasize the agential quality of matter, thereby challenging the notion that matter, particularly the biological body, is passive and inert – a notion that is gendered given the traditional association of passive matter with the feminine. While appreciating the materialist turn increasingly evident in feminist theory, Claire Colebrook warns feminist thinkers against an uncritical appeal to the vitalist tradition, which continues to privilege action, creativity and productivity over that materiality which remains unactualized potential (and is symbolically aligned with the feminine). After outlining the new materialist re-conception of matter, this paper considers the idea of a ‘passive vitalism’, which Colebrook develops in light of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's co-authored works. This paper shares Colebrook's contention that the new materialist emphasis on the agency of matter (particularly as it is informed by the vitalist tradition) simply extends the model of the (male) human person to the rest of nature. However, the final part of this paper begins to indicate how a theological materialism is able to affirm both the agency and patiency of matter in ways that challenge the view that the avowal of divine transcendence is inevitably opposed to the integrity of material immanence.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	“This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Angelaki on 13th June 2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0969725X.2014.920633.”
Keywords:	agency, patiency, matter, new materialism, feminism, vitalism, Claire Colebrook, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, William Desmond, divine transcendence
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities
Depositing User:	Patrice Haynes
Date Deposited:	13 Apr 2016 14:01
Last Modified:	16 Dec 2024 14:32
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/1201

Actions (login required)

View Item