The Impossible Subject of Suicide

Deploying feminist and queer theories of embodiment and subjectivity, The Impossible Subject of Suicide stages an intervention into dominant understandings of suicide that position suicide prevention as the only possible and ethical response to suicide, thus ruling it out as a legitimate choice. Wit...

ver descrição completa

Na minha lista:
Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor principal: Tack, Saartje
Formato: Online
Idioma:inglês
Publicado em: Taylor & Francis 2026
Assuntos:
Acesso em linha:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111133
Tags: Adicionar Tag
Sem tags, seja o primeiro a adicionar uma tag!
_version_ 1869526010013155328
author Tack, Saartje
author_browse Tack, Saartje
author_facet Tack, Saartje
author_sort Tack, Saartje
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Deploying feminist and queer theories of embodiment and subjectivity, The Impossible Subject of Suicide stages an intervention into dominant understandings of suicide that position suicide prevention as the only possible and ethical response to suicide, thus ruling it out as a legitimate choice. With attention to scholarly research, news media, fiction, public health, and social media, the author investigates the cultural mechanisms at play in positioning and sustaining suicide prevention as a pre-discursive, a-contextual, and natural response to suicide. As the prevention narrative relies on the assumption that "normal," "healthy," and "rational" people want to live, it relegates the suicidal subject to de-agentified subject positions such as mentally ill, at-risk, or vulnerable, and thus effectively silences those who consider death. As such, the suicidal subject cannot exist as a subject in its own right: it is an impossible subject. A study of the ways in which the subject’s agency is conditioned by the expression of a normative desire to live, this book interrogates the taken-for-granted knowledges of suicide that have for decades informed understandings and representations of suicide, and aims to render the lives of those who live with suicide more liveable and open up a space from which those who have culturally been silenced can speak. It will, therefore, appeal to scholars in the social sciences and humanities with an interest in mental health, suicide, and/or questions around agency, embodiment, and subjectivity.
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-173977
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language eng
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Taylor & Francis
publisherStr Taylor & Francis
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1739772026-03-19T14:33:57Z The Impossible Subject of Suicide Tack, Saartje Suicide Agency Freedom Subjectivity Mental health Cultural studies Sociology Will-to-live News media Fiction Representations Scholarly research Public health Social media Suicide prevention Rational Healthy Suicidology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFN Health, illness and addiction: social aspects thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MK Medical specialties, branches of medicine::MKM Clinical psychology::MKMT Psychotherapy thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBS Medical sociology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology Deploying feminist and queer theories of embodiment and subjectivity, The Impossible Subject of Suicide stages an intervention into dominant understandings of suicide that position suicide prevention as the only possible and ethical response to suicide, thus ruling it out as a legitimate choice. With attention to scholarly research, news media, fiction, public health, and social media, the author investigates the cultural mechanisms at play in positioning and sustaining suicide prevention as a pre-discursive, a-contextual, and natural response to suicide. As the prevention narrative relies on the assumption that "normal," "healthy," and "rational" people want to live, it relegates the suicidal subject to de-agentified subject positions such as mentally ill, at-risk, or vulnerable, and thus effectively silences those who consider death. As such, the suicidal subject cannot exist as a subject in its own right: it is an impossible subject. A study of the ways in which the subject’s agency is conditioned by the expression of a normative desire to live, this book interrogates the taken-for-granted knowledges of suicide that have for decades informed understandings and representations of suicide, and aims to render the lives of those who live with suicide more liveable and open up a space from which those who have culturally been silenced can speak. It will, therefore, appeal to scholars in the social sciences and humanities with an interest in mental health, suicide, and/or questions around agency, embodiment, and subjectivity. 2026-03-19T14:33:56Z 2026-03-19T14:33:56Z 2026-03-02T18:21:10Z 2026 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111133 9781040865217 9781040865248 9781032631875 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/173977 eng open access image/jpeg n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/111133/1/9781040865217.pdf Taylor & Francis Routledge 10.4324/9781032631875 10.4324/9781032631875 fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 9781040865217 9781040865248 9781032631875 Routledge 162 Oxford open access
spellingShingle Suicide
Agency
Freedom
Subjectivity
Mental health
Cultural studies
Sociology
Will-to-live
News media
Fiction
Representations
Scholarly research
Public health
Social media
Suicide prevention
Rational
Healthy
Suicidology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFN Health, illness and addiction: social aspects
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MK Medical specialties, branches of medicine::MKM Clinical psychology::MKMT Psychotherapy
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBS Medical sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
Tack, Saartje
The Impossible Subject of Suicide
title The Impossible Subject of Suicide
title_full The Impossible Subject of Suicide
title_fullStr The Impossible Subject of Suicide
title_full_unstemmed The Impossible Subject of Suicide
title_short The Impossible Subject of Suicide
title_sort impossible subject of suicide
topic Suicide
Agency
Freedom
Subjectivity
Mental health
Cultural studies
Sociology
Will-to-live
News media
Fiction
Representations
Scholarly research
Public health
Social media
Suicide prevention
Rational
Healthy
Suicidology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFN Health, illness and addiction: social aspects
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MK Medical specialties, branches of medicine::MKM Clinical psychology::MKMT Psychotherapy
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBS Medical sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
topic_facet Suicide
Agency
Freedom
Subjectivity
Mental health
Cultural studies
Sociology
Will-to-live
News media
Fiction
Representations
Scholarly research
Public health
Social media
Suicide prevention
Rational
Healthy
Suicidology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFN Health, illness and addiction: social aspects
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology::JHBA Social theory
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MK Medical specialties, branches of medicine::MKM Clinical psychology::MKMT Psychotherapy
thema EDItEUR::M Medicine and Nursing::MB Medicine: general issues::MBS Medical sociology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111133
work_keys_str_mv AT tacksaartje theimpossiblesubjectofsuicide
AT tacksaartje impossiblesubjectofsuicide