Abstract

Throughout history, the figure of the Amazon has captured the human imagination. In this study, I argue that the popularity of the Amazon is in large part due to her importance as a site of the continuous process of gender negotiation. After drawing upon the work of feminists such as Simone de Beauvoir, Teresa de Lauretis and Judith Butler in order to establish a position from which to address gender and the important questions of gender subversion and transformation, I examine, using the method of discourse analysis, the textual figure of the Amazon and its participation in the construction and deconstruction of gender identities and relations. Who are the Amazons? How does the figure of the Amazon, in its multiplicity, indeterminacy, and instability, play in ancient and modern discourses of gender? What investments has it borne in the past and what promises, if any, does it hold for a feminist political project of gender transformation and subversion? These questions guide my examination of the performance of the Amazon in the works of ancient Greek writers, artists, geographers and historians, and the American television show Xena: Warrior Princess.