%0 Journal Article
%T The primacy of narrative agency: Re
%A Sarah Drews Lucas
%J Feminist Theory
%@ 1741-2773
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1464700117723591
%X The central claim of this article is that narrative agency, which I will define as a subject¡¯s capacity to make sense of herself as an ¡®I¡¯ over time and in relation to other ¡®I¡¯s, is a precondition for identity formation. I engage with two critiques of this claim: first, that narrative agency is limited by, rather than primary to, subordinating gender norms and, second, that a view of narrative agency as primary is committed to too ambitious a conception of the communicability of narratives. I argue that the narrative model survives these two criticisms by emphasising its irreducibility, its inherent relationality and its generative potential. I then suggest some of the ways in which a concept of narrative agency might help feminist critical theory to posit mutual recognition and respect as productive criteria for progressive self and social transformation
%K Agency
%K Benhabib
%K critical theory
%K feminism
%K gender
%K identity
%K narrative
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1464700117723591