To the narrative turn and back

Narrative entered the inaugural political practices of second wave feminism long before it became an academic topic of research, and identity was for feminists a practice of autobiographical disclosure before being the recognition of a commonality. This chapter analyzes the ways in which the narrative practices at work in early Italian feminism offer an interesting example of the fruitful connection between politics and narration. By drawing on Hannah Arendt, Adriana Cavarero and the thought of sexual difference, this chapter briefly reconstructs the role that narrative played in feminist politics and theory. I will claim that the narrative turn in feminism not only gave voice to new political subjects and their awareness, but also contributed to renewed notions of subjectivity, embodied self, the relation between self and other.