Nietzche's Women- Madres de Plaza de Mayo

8/2/2019 Nietzche's Women- Madres de Plaza de Mayo

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Engaging Nietzsche's Women: Ofelia Schutte and the Madres de la Plaza de MayoAuthor(s): Debra B. BergoffenReviewed work(s):Source: Hypatia, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Summer, 2004), pp. 157-168Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Hypatia, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3811098 .

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EngagingNietzsche'sWomen:OfeliaSchutteand theMadres e la PlazadeMayoDEBRA B. BERGOFFEN

OfeliaSchutte's elationshipo Nietzsche s contentious.Sometimes heidentifieshimasanally.Sometimeshecallshimanenemy.AppealingoNietzsche'sbolitionof theappearanceealitydistinction ndto his discussions f womenas skeptics,turntoOfelia'sdiscussions f theMadresde la PlazadeMayotosuggesthattheirprotestscan be understood s a Nietzscheanpoliticsof transvaluationwhere themythof the motherand the materialities f women'sbodiesbecome hegroundofthedemandor justice.

We have long abandonedthe idea of the disinterestedphilosopher.The issueswe choose to engage, the ways in which we engage them-none of this isanonymous.It is as a person that I am a philosopher.It is becauseI deem aparticularphilosopherorparticularssuesimportant hat I amdrawnto them.Sometimesmyinterest is obvious. Other times it is not. The interest,however,drives the inquiry.In honoringthe workof Ofelia Schutte I need to keepthisrole of interestin mind. I need to do morethan acknowledge he importantcontributionsshe has made to our philosophicaldiscussions and debates atSPEP,at SWIP,and at numerousnational and internationalconferences.IncelebratingSchutte's ideas I also need to cite her ideals. Her idealspermeateherscholarlycareer.Her ideas sometimeschange. Her ideals do not.In an earlyessay"TheSolitude of Nietzsche'sZarathustra"1981),Schuttetells us that she advocatesthe values of dialogueand community.She insistsHypatiavol. 19,no. 3 (Summer2004) ? by DebraB. Bergoffen


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that there can be no dialogue when disagreementsare excluded and wherethereisno one to respond o us. These valuesgroundSchutte's hinking.Theyform the basisof her criticismsof Nietzsche (1981, 1988a),Hegel (1990), andpatriarchalrationality.They inform the particularsof her feminism (1998).They motivateher projectof introducingNorth Americans to the thinkingand thinkersof LatinAmerica(1988b,1991,1993). I, like so manyothers,amindebtedto Schutte forbringing he worksof seminalLatin American thinkersto my attention;formaking it possiblefor us to enter into conversationswiththose who philosophizefrom the positionof the colonized;andforalertingusto the limitations of a rationality hat identifies he desiresof mythicalpoesieswith a primitiverelationship o realitythat oughtto be outgrown.What strikesme, as I read Schutte'sworkthroughoutthe years, s the con-tinuing presenceof Nietzsche. The values of dialogueand communityformone thread of continuity throughher work.Her conversationwith Nietzscheformsanother.This conversations not aneasyone. SchuttecriticizesNietzscheforhis entanglementswith the ideologiesof domination and the masterslavedichotomy(1983) and fornot developingthe full implicationsof the death ofGod (1987); he decriesNietzsche'snarrowview of women(1983); indsthathisgrandpolitics of the good Europeanremains a politics of culturalsuperioritybasedon multipleexclusions(1983);andconcludesthat in the end,Nietzsche'srebellionsareweigheddown with unexamined masculineideologicalbaggage(1988a).

Noting that there is more than one Nietzsche,however,Schutte does notdismiss him entirely. Instead she distinguishesthe critical, deconstructiveNietzschefrom the patriarchal nd authoritarianNietzsche. She is sympatheticto Nietzsche'scritiqueof herd values. She is awareof the waysin which thiscritique s alignedin LatinAmericawith a transvaluedMarxism hat attendstothe importanceof the materialconditions of the life worldbutrefuses o reduceculturalvaluesto apologiesfor exploitation(1988b).ReadingNietzschewithhis Latin American readers,Schutte acceptsNietzscheas an ally in the proj-ect of combatingthe metaphysicaldualismsthat fuel the politicsof exclusion,violence,anddomination.She does not, however,accepthim as a trustworthyally, or unlikeJoseCarlosMariatequi,who heardNietzsche's all foratransvalu-ation of Europeanculture'svaluesas a call to invoke the valuesof the ancientIncasand asa mandateto takeupa relationship o powernot anchored n pity,envy,orresentment,Schutte,likeKayPicart, indsNietzschehimselfcaughtupin the forcesof resentment(1988b,1999).Like the highermen of ThusSpokeZarathustra1954),he failed to effect a transvaluationof values.Schutte'stroubledconversationwith Nietzsche maybe taken as a specificinstance of a questionthat runs throughmuch of her work:Can a Europeanthinker be a resourcefor a feminist philosopher,with ears tuned to LatinAmerica,who is concernedwith developingan ethics andpoliticsof dialogue

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grounded n arespect ordifference?Withspecificregardo Nietzschethe ques-tion becomesa seriesof questions:How far does Nietzsche'sdeath of God takeus in developingalternativeconceptsof politicsandcommunity?Howfruitfulis his critiqueof the Cartesiansubject or alternatives o patriarchal ubricsofsubjectivity?Howdamagingarehis misogyniststatements or the feministproj-ect?Can his visionof the good European nchorapostcolonialpolitics?Askingthesequestions,Schuttefindsthat the perspectivismushered n bythe deathofGod is a powerfulallyof postcolonial thought insofaras it inauguratesan erawherethe firstcommandmentof imperialistpolitics-thou shalt have no otherGod, Truth,Good than mine-is shatteredand replacedwith a postcolonialpoliticswhose firstcommandment reads:Thou shalt never take one'sgod(s),truth(s),good(s),to be eitherabsoluteor universal.Schutte also findsNietzsche'sdoctrine of the eternalrecurrenceiberating or the healingandhealthybondit creates between the individual,time and the world. But when she turns tothe questionsof women, community,and subjectivityshe findsNietzsche anunhelpfulthinker at best and a destructiveone at worst.

ALLIANCESI agreewith Schutte,Nietzscheis an unsteadyally-who isn't?But I alsothinkthat his thought contains more resourcesfor our feminist and postcolonialprojects.Pickingup on Schutte'sobservationthat for all his misogyniststate-ments Nietzsche offerssomesupport orthe feministagendawhen he noted thenecessityof friendship n modernmarriage Nietzsche1984, #378, #406) andoutlined the possibilitiesor aspiritual elationshipbetween menand women inthe marriage f the future(Nietzsche,1984,#424),I look to anotherofNietzschereflectionson marriage,he GayScience On FemaleChastity 1974,#71) and setit in the context of Nietzsche'scritiqueof the metaphysicalappearancerealitydistinction in Twilight f the Idols(1968, 45) to indicate that though I do notcount Nietzsche as a feminist,neither do I count him out. His thought is toocomplicated orthis either-oralternative.In the section of Twilight f the Idols itled "Reasonand Philosophy" 1968,45) Nietzsche"compresses is fundamentaland new insight into four theses."They read:1.The grounds upon which "this"world has been designatedas apparentestablishrather tsreality-another kindof reality s absolutelyundemon-strable.2.The "realworld" . constructedout of the contradiction to the actualworld:... is no more than a moral-opticalllusion.3.To talk about "another"world than this ... [is to] revengeourselvesonlife.

4.To divide the word into a "real"and an "apparent"world... is only a

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suggestionof decadence,a symptomof declining life. The artistplacesahighervalueon appearance .. for'appearance' eresignifiesrealityoncemore,only selected,strengthened,corrected.Followingthis moral and aesthetic affirmationof the appearance,Nietzschegoes on to describe"Howthe 'RealWorld'At Last Became a Myth:Historyofan Error"1968, 50) Herewe areprovidedwith six theses;a narrative;ahistoryof philosophy f youwill. These read:1.The real worldattainableto the wise, the pious, the virtuousman-hedwells in it, he is it.

2.The real world,unattainable for the moment but promisedto the wisethe pious, the virtuous man. (Progressof the idea:it growsmore refinedmoreenticing,moreincomprehensible-it becomes woman, t becomesChristian.)3. The real worldunattainable[becomes]a duty [Kant].4.The real world-unattainable? ... also unknown.Consequentlyalso noconsolation,no redemption,no duty.5.The real world-an idea no longerof any use.... Let us abolish it! ...return of cheerfulness . . freespiritsrunriot.6.We have abolished the real word:what world is left? the apparentworldperhaps?... butno! With herealworldwehavealsoabolishedheapparentworld!INCIPETZARATHUSTRA.Nietzsche abolishesthe appearance-realityistinctionto validatethe artistvanquishedby the ascetic ideal-an ideal that is unmistakablypatriarchal.Nietzsche does not draw the line between the ascetic denial of the body andpatriarchy's egradation f womanasbody.Hedoes not showhowasceticresent-ments toward ife areexpressed n patriarchy'sbuseof the bodythat giveslife.Butwe,his feministreaders, an connect the dots. The "misogynist"Nietzschehas muchto teach us about the powersof patriarchy.Inabolishingthe real worldNietzsche also abolishes he apparentworld.Histarget s the notion of agivennessthat asalready herepositionsus asrecordersof being rather than as creatorsof values. This is more than a metaphysicaltarget.Once linked to the death ofGod, as I think it mustbe, it isalsoapoliticaltarget; or Nietzscheappealsto the end of the distinction between the real andapparentworld o undermine he illusionsof totalityand totalizations ustainedby the metaphysicsof the real.Understandingthe waysin which the specterof the real, God, and patrioticnationalisms threaten the play of becomingsthat savesus fromauthoritarianantasies,Nietzschesoughtto undercutthesefantasiesby critiquingthe "new" dolatryof the state and declaringhimself aGood European 1954,#11).This politics of becomings is, I think, crucial to the feminist projectofsavingwomen from the myth of woman;for this politics exposes the idea ofthe real/naturalwoman as a metaphysicalpatriarchalploy that barswomen

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fromthe possibilitiesof their embodiedbecomings.It is crucialto creatingthepossibilityof another situation-a situationwhere the experienceof being awoman,the appearingof the becomings, mightshowitself,prevail,andtrumpthe myth of woman that anchors the patriarchal eal.

ThoughBeauvoirdoesnot citehim,I findNietzsche'sootprints n her SecondSex(1989).When Beauvoirasks about the desiresandstrategiesof patriarchalmen andwomen;when she readsthese strategies hroughthe myth of woman(1989, 139-266); when she insists that economic and political advances willfall short of theirliberatingmarkso longas the mythof woman endures(1989,724-26); she takes her cues fromNietzsche;forit is Nietzsche whotaughtus toattend to the powerof mythsand who linked this powerto the desire to domi-nate (Nietzsche,1967b#III). Between Nietzsche and Beauvoir t is difficulttoavoid the conclusion that the mythof woman is the paradigmatic ase of theworkingsof the resentfulphilosophical/political/moralwill to power.TheGay Science,like the Twilight f theIdols,embraces he appearanceofbecomingsand extols artisticcreativity. n TheGayScience,however,Nietzschecomplicates he storyhe tells in Twilight f theIdolsbyintroducing he questionof woman. We artists,he writes,love women so long as they maintain theirdistance;we resent the woman who gets too close-the one who confrontsuswith her bodily being and natural functions (1974,#59). We artists,in otherwords, ove the mythof womanand take ourrevengeon womenwhodisturbourfantasy.These "weartists"of TheGayScience eemto be only distantlyrelatedto the artistsof Twilight f theIdols.The Twilightrtiststakeupthe appearancesto free themselvesfor the once more of life. The Gay Scienceartists seem toforget heir creative unction.Theyseemto be seducedbytheir creations.Theyalso seem to be men of the discreditedascetic ideal.

Challengingthese artists of the ascetic ideal,Nietzschegivesus the figuresof the old woman and the sage(1974,#64, #68). Most men think that womenseduce them. Nietzsche'soldwomanandsageknowdifferently.His upper-classwoman also learns the truth on her wedding night. These figuresdissect themyth of woman.Throughtheir dissection they discoverthe way mythsworkto devalue the appearances.They anticipateNietzsche's ree spiritsand Zara-thustra.This is not to saythat Nietzscheexpected Zarathustra'sompanionsto bewomen. Zarathustra oves the women life and eternity (1954, #15, #16), andtakes the advice of the old woman whengoingto the dancing girls(1954,#18).He speaksof weddingsand marriagesand children (1984). But women as hisworthyenemies?Womento celebrate he eternal recurrence?Havingidentifiedthe machinationsof the mythof woman he remainscaughtin them.Neverthe-less Nietzsche is no easy dupe.Callingold womenskeptics,he writes,"Iamafraid hatold womenare moreskepticalin theirmost secret heartof hearts than anyman;they consider the

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superficiality f existence its essence;and all virtue and profundity s to themmerelya 'veil' over this truth"(1974,#64). I take these oldwomen to be prod-ucts of the wedding night whereupper-classwomen, "broughtup as ignorantaspossibleof erotic matters. .. with a profound enseof shame in such matters[are]hurled as by a gruesomelightening bolt into realityand knowledgebymarriage-precisely bythe man they love most!To catch love andshamein acontradiction.... Thus apsychicknot has beentied thatmayhaveno equal ...the ultimatephilosophyandskepsisofwomancastsanchorat thispoint"(1974,#71). Among men, only the sageunderstandswomen'sparadoxicalexistence.To those who accusewomenof corruptingmen he replies,"It s men who cor-ruptwomen and all the failingsof women shouldbe atonedby and improvedin men. For it is man who createsforhimself the imageof womanand womanwho formsherselfaccording o this image" 1974,#68). The sagehadno follow-ers-at least not amongthe men. Among women,as Nietzschesuspected, hesecretwas out. MaryWollstonecraft's1792Vindication f theRightsof Women(1997)had alreadymade the sage'scase.Few men listenedto her either.WalterKaufmann,translatorand editorof one of the Englisheditions ofThe Gay Science(1974),a critic of Nietzsche'smisogyny,finds these sectionsprescient.They are,he says,eightyyearsaheadof theirtimes(1974,126).Mighta feminist quote them?Mightfeministsappealto Nietzsche as a resource ortheircritiquesof patriarchy? he thought is not out of hand. When Beauvoiropens The SecondSexwonderingwhetheror not as a woman she can be saidtoreallyexist (1989,xix-xxi), I hearNietzsche's"psychicknot"speaking.Whenshe evokes the erotic as an antidoteto patriarchal tructuringsof subjectivity(1989, 728), I hear Nietzsche'sDionysian challenge to Socraticrationalityatwork(Nietzsche 1967a).When Adrienne Rich confronts the myth of mother-hood with herexperiencesof mothering,I hear hervalidationof livedexperi-ence evoking Nietzsche's affirmationof the becoming of appearances(Rich1986).When Monique Wittig cites Beauvoir's,"One is not born a woman butbecomes one" (1992), to challenge the givennessof the sex gendersystem,Ihear a Nietzscheanchallengeto the metaphysicsof the real.The list goeson. Ithink you get the point. Today's eministsshould,I think, be heard asprobingthe skepticismsof Nietzsche'ssage,old woman,and naive nineteenth-centurybride.Their psychicknot is ourteething ring.Schutte is correct. Nietzsche's egacyis ambiguous.It cannot be cited as asolidliberatory rpoliticalground.But shetoo, I think, is indebted oNietzscheforcreatingan existential-phenomenologicalwayof thinking that teachesushow to deconstructpatriarchal"realities." nlike Freud,Nietzsche'svision isnot distortedby the blind spot of symmetry.He knowsthat the idea of a uni-versalhumansubject s a creationof the aesthetic ideal(1967b,#III).Men andwomen,Nietzschenotes, sustaindifferentrelationships o the appearances,otruth, to values, and to themselves.Takingnote of the sexual differencehe

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does not pursueit systematically.He is not interested in the myth of womanas an ethical or politicalmatter.Forhim, it is a side show-one amongmanywaysof discerningthe wayin which the myth constructs"reality" nd masksthe finite-infiniteplayof the becomingsof the appearances.For LuceIrigaray, owever,Nietzsche'sside show takes centerstage. Livingin the twentieth and twenty-firstcenturies she writes, "Sexual differenceisone of the majorphilosophicalissues,if not the issue,of our age. ... Sexualdifference s probablyhe issuein ourtime which could be our'salvation'f wethought it through" 1985, 5). Feministsunderstand hat womenareexpectedto keep their distance.They know that they areloved as the eternal feminineand despisedas the body whose blood and fluidsare too intimate remindersof finitude,contingency,and death. They are, however,tired of being man'smirror.Unlike the nineteenth-centurymarriedand old women who abidebythe rulesof the game(the rules of silenceand acquiescence), oday's eministsrefusethe destinyof theirpsychicknot. They do not wantthe sympathyof thesage.They want to be liberated rom the "real"world of patriarchy.Exposingthe myth of woman as the paradigmof the ascetic ideal they have their ownwaysof announcing"How he Real(Patriarchal)Worldat LastBecame aMyth:Historyof an Error."Nietzsche, n suggestinghatonlywomenmayhave the requisiteivedskepti-cism to experiencethe urgencyof the reality-appearance-mythuestion,wasno feminist. He did not suspectthat he mighthave announced the comingoffeministthought.Like the atheistsin his Madman'smarketplace,he does notseem to know that he is guilty of murderingcontemporarypatriarchy 1974,#125). Knowing that God is dead, he does not seem to know that modernpatriarchy annot survivethis death. Yet Nietzsche does not seem to be com-pletely ignorant/innocentof the relationshipbetween God, the ascetic ideal,and patriarchy.He understoodthat the operationsof the mythof womanareentangledwith the matter of truth (1966, 2); with the relationshipbetweenthe appearanceand the real (1984, #405); and with the reignof the nihilisticdesire for totality and domination (1954, #18). Further, f we consider thatNietzsche's insistence on the sexual differencecannot, given his account ofthis difference n terms of the differencebetween women's kepticaland men'sdogmaticrelationshipo truth,be reduced o apatriarchalmystique rbiologicaldeterminism, hen it ispossible o imaginethat he mighthave reconsideredhisantifeministstance werehe acquaintedwith contemporaryeminismsof differ-ence. The feminismhe rejectedwasequalityfeminism.Nietzsche's argetwasequality,which he associatedhereaselsewherewith the ascetic ideal'sprogramof leveling.However,whetheror not Irigarayould count on him to understandher feminist critiqueof equality is not my concern here. I am interested insomethingmore modest. Rather than askingwhat sort of feminist theory (ifany)Nietzschemightembrace,I would like to suggest hatNietzsche'sconcept

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of transvaluation an only be livedbythose who have refused he appearance-realitydistinction,namely,by skeptics,and that in the hands of women whorefuseto live their feminine skepticismpassively, ransvaluationcan becomea political strategy.To give this thesis a face, I would like to take upSchutte'sdiscussionof the Madresde la Plazade Mayo,and add them and the Abuelasde la Plazade Mayoto Nietzsche's amilyof skeptics.'

THE MADRES AND ABUELAS DE LA PLAZA DE MAYO

From1976to 1983Argentinawasruledby a militaryjunta.Under its reignofterror housandsof mothers, athers,andchildren weredisappeared.Today hefateof 30,000 of the disappeareds still not known. In 1977a groupof mothersandgrandmothers,madresandabuelas,began appearing n the Plazade MayoBuenosAires, the birthplaceof independentArgentina. They arrivedeveryThursdaydressed n black and walkedsilentlyaroundthe plazacarryingpho-tographsof their disappeared ons, daughters,husbands,brothers,and sisters.Their founderandseveralotherswere themselvesdisappeared.But the mothersandgrandmothers ept coming.The juntanevercrushed he movement.Surelythey could have. Avoiding their usualtactics, the militarycirculated rumorsthat the white kerchiefedwomen were crazy. They declined to identify thesource of the women'smadness(Krauss2001;Lajoie,2001, 5; www.bastards.org/activism/argentina.html;www.oxy.edu/-thepaper/archive/issue991008/stories/p aza_f.htm).Itis important o note that these Argentinewomen entered he publicarenaasthe Madresand Abuelasde la Plazade Mayo.Theydid not enter the plazaascitizens. From 1976to 1983Argentinecitizens,men orwomen,who protestedweredisappeared.To invokeyourrightas a citizen to call yourgovernmenttoaccountwas to writeyourdeathwarrant.These Argentinewomen knew this.They knew that they were riskingtheir lives. Some of them paid with theirlives.Something,however, topped he juntafromdecimating he protestors nmasse.I think thesewomen,who called themselvesmothersandgrandmothers,not citizens,knew something about the structureof patriarchy. think theyunderstood(at least) three things aboutArgentina'sreignof terror.Firsttheyunderstood t as a form of patriarchalpolitics.Second, they understoodthatthoughthe patriarchaldealizationof the mothercouldnot offerthem absoluteprotection,it would to some degree hamperthe junta'sabilityto unleash itsviolence. Third, they saw that the junta'sreignof terrorproducedfissures nthe patriarchalorder.In the patriarchalworldmothers areresponsible or the well-beingof theirfamilies.They arenot held responsibleorpublicjustice.That is the role of thefather.InArgentina,however, he fatheris terrorized.f he speaks,he is disap-peared.But the juntadid not stopat the father.It alsodisappearedhe children.

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Between the silenced fatherand the mother who quamother is barred rompublic speech, the patriarchalarrangement-mothers will nurturechildren,fatherswill protectthem-is shattered.There is no protection.The nurturedchildrenvanish.There is a certain ironyhere. Had the governmentlimited its violence tothe fathersand husbands, ts violationsof justicewouldnot have exposedthelie of patriarchalarrangements.The mothers might have maintained theirmatriarchal ilence.Had the juntareturned he bodiesof the disappearedathersand children,the Madresmight neverhave entered the Plazade Mayo.Werethe bodiesreturned, herewould have been funerals.The motherscouldhaveexpressed heirgriefaccording o tradition.Theycould havemournedpublicly.Butthere were no bodies to bury.No possibilityof mourning.The governmentfearedthe publicfunerals.It saw that suchfuneralscouldturn into politicalprotests.In actingon these fears,the governmentcountedon the mothers'passivityand the fathers' right.With respectto the fathers,its assessmentswere accurate.With respectto the mothers, it miscalculated.As mothers living according to patriarchalrules, these Argentine womenshouldhaveendured n silence.They shouldhaveweptin private.Theyshouldhave acceptedtheir loss as beyondtheircontrol.They shouldhave lived theirwoman's kepticismpassively,ascetically.Insteadtheirmaskedskepticism ookup a new disguise.I knowthat thesewomencrossed he line frompassive o activeskepticism.am awedbytheircourage. amtryingto understand t. Seeingthemasenactinga transvaluationof the meaningof the motherhelpsmedecipherthe poweroftheirpoliticsand the ways n whichtheytiedthe handsof the junta.IfNietzscheisrightaboutwomen's kepticism, hen Icannot saythat findingtheirchildrendisappearedand their men silenced is the mothers' irstexperienceof the lieof patriarchalarrangements.What I can suggest,however,is that the abyssproducedbythe Argentinegovernmentcreateda situationwhere the motherscould not longerlive their skepticismas dissimulation.Livingin unprotectedhomes, these motherscould no longersustainthe myth that they couldfulfilltheir responsibility o their loved ones in the privatedomain without takingresponsibilityorthe life of the bodypolitic.The brillianceof theirstrategy,he sourceof itssuccess,and itsradical hreatto the statusquolies, I think, in itsapparently onservativeappealto the mythof the mother.As mothersdoingwhat mothers are not allowedto do (protestpublicly) n the name of motherhood(those who love and areresponsible orchildren),thesewomenenacted a transvaluationon at least threecounts.Firstby enteringthe publicarena as mothersthey enacted their oppositionto theclaimthat the values of the mother areonly a privatematter.Secondbyenter-ing the publicarenaas mothers,those who areresponsible orchildren,theyestablished that the one who has responsibility or others has an obligation

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and a right to challenge those who have powerover others.Third, by mark-ing themselveswith the names of the disappeared,by puttingtheir bodies onthe line, by maintainingtheirsilence, they mime theirstatus as the bodythatcannot speakto make the point that it is from,through,and for the bodythatthe voices of justiceemerge.2What these women did without the help of Nietzsche can be understoodand abetted by Nietzsche'scritiqueof the appearancerealitydistinction, byhis insistence that our identities are mattersof language,will, and desire andgrounded n the materialityof ourbodies;andbyhis argument hat the forcesof the ascetic idealcan be takenup andresignifiedby life-affirmingorces anddesires.

Motherhood, raditionallydentifiedwith the valuesof submission, are,andunending endurance,can, as the silent protestsof the Madresdemonstrated,become the site of a demand for justice and accountabilitywhich refuses toendurea reignof terror hat lacerates he maternalbody.Intheirpublicsilencethese women assaultedthe state that would confine them to the passivityofthe mother.They also caught the authoritarianregimeoff guardby playingthe patriarchalcard. How can a state threaten women who, in the name ofthe patriarchaldeal of motherhood,silentlymark the disappearanceof theirchildren, their husbands, their brothers,their sisters?In their silence thesemothers,observingthe patriarchal ule that bars mothersfrompublicspeech,cried out againstthe taboos that allow a mother to mourn butnot protesttheabuse,the disappearance,he death,of her child.These Argentine mothers,not having readNietzsche, are, I think, sistersof his nineteenth-centurybrides. Like these naive lovers, shock and terrorhave made them skepticalof patriarchalnorms. Unlike the brides who livedtheir skepticismof patriarchaldictates in solitarysubmission,however,theArgentinemotherstook their skepticism o the streetsand foundsolidarity ncommunity.If the Argentine mothersdid not need Nietzsche to teach them the art oftransvaluation,we who look for theoreticalgroundingsor theirpoliticsin orderto explore its implicationsand to engenderother forms of liberatoryaction,might, I think, do well to turn to Nietzsche. His philosophyof distance maybe, as Schutte argues,a remnant of authoritarian deologies.It may also be,as I have tried to show,a harbingerof a radicalpostcolonialfeminist politicsthat refusesto erase the distances and differencesbetween us in the name ofa singletruthor good, and that in this refusaloffersresources orthe politicaland ethical transvaluationsnecessaryfor the future of Schutte'svisions of apostcolonialfeministpolity.

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NOTES1. Alice Walker, n PossessingheSecretofJoy,takesanother routeto the relation-

shipbetween women's kepticismandpoliticalaction. In herdepictionof the last con-versationbetween M'Lissa ndEvelyn-Tashi,whereEvelyn-Tashis shocked to discoverthat M'Lissaonly seemedto believe the myth of womandeemed central to the Olinkaculture,Walkerportrays he youngwoman,not the men, asrefusing o listen to the oldwoman's kepticism.Further n the last lines of the novel, "Resistance s the Secret ofJoy," he announces the coming of politicallyactive skepticism hroughthe voices of acommunityof men andwomen,rather han throughthe bodied silenceof acommunityof mothers and grandmothers 1992, 243-44, 281).2. Foranother account of the strategicuse the Madresde la Plazade Mayomakeof the symbolicmother,see JeanBethke Elshtain,1996, 129-47.

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Elshtain, Jean Bethke. 1996. The mothers of the disappeared:An encounter withAntigone's daughters.In Findinga new feminism,ed. Pamela Grande Jensen,Lanham,Md.: Rowmanand Littlefield.

Irigaray, uce.1985.The blindspotof an olddreamof symmetry. nSpeculum ftheotherwoman.Trans.GilliganGill. Ithaca:CornellUniversityPress.Keith, Jessica.Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, http://www.oxy.edu/-thepaper/archive/issue991008/stories/plaza_f.htmaccessedFebruary , 2002).Krauss,Clifford.2001. Sympathy romrelativesof the "disappeared."ew YorkTimes.Sept. 22.Lajoie,Ron. 2001-2002. Against oblivion.AmnestyNow. Winter,4-7.Nietzsche,Friedrich.1954.ThusspokeZarathustra. rans.WalterKaufmann.New York.PenguinBooks.. 1966. Beyondgood and evil. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York.VintageBooks.

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