Thinking non/monogamy: theories and cultures of intimate life
Jessica Kean (WGS, University of Sydney)
In this paper I consider different forms of non-monogamy in contemporary, Western contexts (including but not limited to polyamory) as minority intimate cultures that exist within and in relation to dominant monogamous culture. While fascinating research objects in their own right, thinking with minority intimate cultures has the added benefit of illuminating aspects of the dominant culture which are naturalised due to their near ubiquity. This talk will explore a range of techniques for theorising non/monogamous cultures, including textual analysis and qualitative interviews.
Underlying this approach is the notion that there are cultures of intimacy: networks of ideas, customs and practices which shape how we approach sex, love and friendship. ‘Love’ and other intimacies are not universal forms, but a mutually-informing, internally complex network of ideas, norms, practices and institutions. To be interested in ‘intimate culture’, then, is not equivalent to interest in popular media, or everyday practices, or public policy alone. Rather, it is to be interested in the network of those factors and more: what some in cultural studies, like Lawrence Grossberg (2010), would call the ‘conjuncture’.
The drive to account for this network in its complexity has encouraged me to pursue a methodological promiscuity: considering the way non-monogamous sex and love are portrayed in popular culture, literature and self-help books, the way people in non-monogamous relationships describe their own intimate practices and philosophies, and the way non-monogamous intimate cultures emerge in and relate to specific legal contexts. In this paper I will outline what the process of weaving these approaches together has to offer a theorisation of intimate life.
This is a collaboration between Phil Seminar Series and Minorities and Philosophy (MAP)