Seminario aperto al pubblico di Meghan Robison.
Martedì 18 febbraio, ore 15-17.
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, Edificio U6
IV piano, Aula seminari
ABSTRACT
We play with our dolls and our dolls, in turn, play with us. Dolls play an ambivalent role in our lives. On the one hand, they empower us by serving as avatars for our ideal selves and ambassadors for our imagined affections. On the other hand, however, dolls play a pivotal role in sustaining oppressive power structures by encouraging some desires while extinguishing others in early childhood, and allowing children to practice their expected social roles. Taking this ambivalence as a productive starting point, in my talk, I will raise the question, ‘What are we doing when we play with dolls?’ Drawing from insights of philosophers, psychoanalysts and poets—including Simone De Beauvoir, Melanie Klein and Rainer Maria Rilke—I argue that dolls can teach us something important about ourselves, more specifically, about the nature, possibilities and limitations of our own agency. In my talk, I give a preliminary outline of a theory of agency through a doll’s eyes.