Undoing Monogamy: The Politics of Science and the Possibilities of Biology

In Undoing Monogamy Angela Willey offers a radically interdisciplinary exploration of the concept of monogamy in U.S. science and culture, propelled by queer feminist desires for new modes of conceptualization and new forms of belonging. She approaches the politics and materiality of monogamy as intertwined with one another such that disciplinary ways of knowing themselves become an object of critical inquiry. Refusing to answer the naturalization of monogamy with a naturalization of nonmonogamy, Willey demands a critical reorientation toward the monogamy question in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The book examines colonial sexual science, monogamous voles, polyamory, and the work of Alison Bechdel and Audre Lorde to show how challenging the lens through which human nature is seen as monogamous or nonmonogamous forces us to reconsider our investments in coupling and in disciplinary notions of biological bodies.

Author: Angela Willey
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 05/13/2016
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9780822361596
ISBN10: 0822361590
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Sociology | Marriage & Family
- Social Science | Feminism & Feminist Theory
- Social Science | LGBTQ+ Studies | Lesbian Studies

About the Author
Angela Willey is Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.