Undoing Monogamy: The Politics of Science and the Possibilities of Biology Paperback – May 13, 2016

A vision of “living elsewhere” and “becoming otherwise,” Angela Willey works through the contributions of Banu Subramarium, Sandra Harding, and Karan Barad, and blazes a bold new path for the future of feminist postcolonial science studies. Exploring how monogamy is made intelligible through disciplines and modes of disciplining, Undoing Monogamy is a timely rejection of the nature vs. nurture debate and a call to weave together the scientific and the social, and the often warring camps of queer feminist critique and science and technology studies. Working interdisciplinarily and intersectionally, Willey rejects binaries altogether in order to explore the co-constitutive elements of nature and culture in cementing the hegemony of monogamy. Taking the reader through the laboratory, colonial archives, the comics of Alison Bechdel, and the erotics of Audre Lorde, Willey produces a rich archive of the construction of monogamy in Western culture. Understood as a legacy of colonial science and nation building, Willey argues that monogamy is also made through the racialization of bodies both normal and abnormal, and explores the erotic life of racism that pervades the discourse of sexuality. Presenting the idea of “dyke ethics,” Willey encourages possibilities beyond non/monogamy and brings the reader to an eventual decentering of sexuality as we understand it and towards radical possibilities beyond the normal, beyond “the idea that what exists is all there is.”

Excellent book it really brings up good points of discussion. You have to be willing to be open minded and understand that perhaps not everything we are told is concrete. In fact most things are based on theories well research however not 100% TRUE. One of the variables that may cause some of these things to not hold truthfulness is biases by the researcher and society rendering any theory to the potential of being a fallacy in its regard. I highly recommend this book for all women. Its written in an academical style so it may take some time to digest some of the points the author suggest or brings up.

I was so excited for this book but it's just full of meaningless academic drivel

This book is excellent. Angela Willey presents a fresh look at monogamy, problematizing common monogamy and polyamory narratives that rely on the legitimizing (and de-legitimizing) force of naturalization. Willey engages in a nuanced argument, offering a fresh perspective that challenges our knowledge production practices--edging us towards the possibility of inventing a new "dyke science". Willey's own research methodologies are reflective of this new inventive science. Instead of relying on taken-for-granted categories of analysis--which define for us which knowledge is "valuable" and which is not--Willey reclaims her agency and academic subjecthood by utilizing research material often unsanctioned by the gatekeepers of academia. I would highly recommend this truly transformative text. Embedded within it, the reader will find an escape from the monotonous doldrums of mainstream monogamy debate.

One of the best books I have recently read. The subject interests me very much - and I believe it would interest anyone that likes to look at the intersection between science and affective norms. Love Willeys writing, choice of references and subject. Great, pleasant book to bump into.