Vikki Bell is Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is author of Interrogating Incest and Feminist Imagination and editor of Perfomativity and Belonging.

• * Preface * The Promise of Performativity: Theory and/as Political Ethic * Genealogy, Generation and Partiality * Negotiating the Non-Ethical * Performative Politics * Rhetorical Figures: On 'Dangerous Thought', Fear and Politics * Performativity Challenged? Creativity and the Return of Interiority

'This book offers a unique approach to the concept of performativity in feminist theory. Placing the concept within a larger philosophical frame that includes thinkers as diverse as Nietzsche, Bergson, Arendt, Levinas, Deleuze, Foucault, and Butler, Bell provides crucial insights into the most hotly debated issues in contemporary feminist thought. If, as Nietzsche put it, 'we have to learn to think differently', this is one of those rare books that puts us on that path. A brilliant achievement.'Lynne Huffer, Emory University'In Culture and Performance, Vikki Bell pushes our understanding of performativity, ethics and politics in vital directions. She engages critically with a range of thinkers, using their ideas to interrogate key issues in feminist theory and politics. Timely and provocative, it contributes critically to debates that currently reverberate across disciplines.'David Bell, School of Geography, University of Leeds

Vikki Bell is Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is author of Interrogating Incest and Feminist Imagination and editor of Perfomativity and Belonging.

• * Preface * The Promise of Performativity: Theory and/as Political Ethic * Genealogy, Generation and Partiality * Negotiating the Non-Ethical * Performative Politics * Rhetorical Figures: On 'Dangerous Thought', Fear and Politics * Performativity Challenged? Creativity and the Return of Interiority

'This book offers a unique approach to the concept of performativity in feminist theory. Placing the concept within a larger philosophical frame that includes thinkers as diverse as Nietzsche, Bergson, Arendt, Levinas, Deleuze, Foucault, and Butler, Bell provides crucial insights into the most hotly debated issues in contemporary feminist thought. If, as Nietzsche put it, 'we have to learn to think differently', this is one of those rare books that puts us on that path. A brilliant achievement.'Lynne Huffer, Emory University'In Culture and Performance, Vikki Bell pushes our understanding of performativity, ethics and politics in vital directions. She engages critically with a range of thinkers, using their ideas to interrogate key issues in feminist theory and politics. Timely and provocative, it contributes critically to debates that currently reverberate across disciplines.'David Bell, School of Geography, University of Leeds

Vikki Bell is Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is author of Interrogating Incest and Feminist Imagination and editor of Perfomativity and Belonging.

• * Preface * The Promise of Performativity: Theory and/as Political Ethic * Genealogy, Generation and Partiality * Negotiating the Non-Ethical * Performative Politics * Rhetorical Figures: On 'Dangerous Thought', Fear and Politics * Performativity Challenged? Creativity and the Return of Interiority

'This book offers a unique approach to the concept of performativity in feminist theory. Placing the concept within a larger philosophical frame that includes thinkers as diverse as Nietzsche, Bergson, Arendt, Levinas, Deleuze, Foucault, and Butler, Bell provides crucial insights into the most hotly debated issues in contemporary feminist thought. If, as Nietzsche put it, 'we have to learn to think differently', this is one of those rare books that puts us on that path. A brilliant achievement.'Lynne Huffer, Emory University'In Culture and Performance, Vikki Bell pushes our understanding of performativity, ethics and politics in vital directions. She engages critically with a range of thinkers, using their ideas to interrogate key issues in feminist theory and politics. Timely and provocative, it contributes critically to debates that currently reverberate across disciplines.'David Bell, School of Geography, University of Leeds