Cartographies contributes to the growing debates on the value of poststructuralist theory. Grounded in a theoretical framework, it combines poststructural semiotics and a philosophy of the body. While interest in poststructuralism is well established, the currently felt need to anchor that interest in a political, material reality is where these readings gain their critical edge. They address the material - social, political and economic - effects of representation, marking anew direction in the debate. Drawing particularly on the work of Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze, Irigaray and Benjamin, the chapters variously challenge the distinction between material reality and representation. They show how each discipline - philosophy, biomedical science, photography, architecture, anthropology - produces its object - truth, the sexed body, the diseased body, national identity, cultural others - while constitution itself. Of special interest to those with a theoretical interest in the politics of representation, the presentation of Cartographies also offers general readers a better understanding of the debate on an emerging area of intellectual concern. Rosalyn Diprose and Robyn Ferrell have drawn together contributors with critical expertise in philosophy, biomedical science, the visual arts, anthropology, cultural studies and feminism who, along with themselves, have published widely.. This book is intended for students and researchers in cultural politics, ethnography and critical theory.