>This is important b/c in the switching, the assumed and
>unquestioned privilege calls attention to itself and becomes unstable...
>From a
>negative deconstruction, one can move into an affirmative one. Affirmative
>deconstruction is a search for third subject positions, outside the binary
>altogether. Not Hegel's thirds, though...we're not talking about anything
>sequential or a simple synthesis. We're talking about a third outta the
>>loop...a
>third that is totally Other. Foucault performs this beautifully in his
>work on >the
>hermaphrodite...gods, I can't remember the name of that book...
I think the book you're talking about is called "Herculine Barbin",
although I am not quite sure about the title either.
But something else: a third point of view???????
Where does this stop? There will always be 'others' in a discourse
decontructed like this. If we deconstruct the male/female dichotomy this
way we create a new one between sexed and non-sexed people, if we try to
look from a hermapphrodite perspective. I think the point Foucault tries to
make (why he brings in the hermaphrodite) is because he wants to show how
ridiculously important it seems to be for people to assign themselves a
sex.
The only use for decontruction is to end a useless distinction, not to
create even more useless distinctions. It is impossible to look at anything
without making distinctions. If I look and see 'Male', I also see 'female'.
The same way I can only distinguish 'black' by aknowleging 'white'.
Foucault's point (I think) is: 'Stop looking!' Am I male or female? Who
cares?
What I read in Foucaults work is not something he is saying, but something
he is showing. His critique of the social sciences: they see black, they
see white, they deconstruct it green, but if we look closely everything is
grey (and boring). My point is: a green point of view is evenly unjust as a
white point of view or a black point of view. Although it can be usefull to
try, it makes no sense to truly believe we ever can escape this.
/------------------------------------------------------------------
| Jeroen van Dalen | |
| | |
| Amsterdam | http://www.xs4all.nl/~cwbijjvd |
------------------------------------------------------------------/
------------------
>unquestioned privilege calls attention to itself and becomes unstable...
>From a
>negative deconstruction, one can move into an affirmative one. Affirmative
>deconstruction is a search for third subject positions, outside the binary
>altogether. Not Hegel's thirds, though...we're not talking about anything
>sequential or a simple synthesis. We're talking about a third outta the
>>loop...a
>third that is totally Other. Foucault performs this beautifully in his
>work on >the
>hermaphrodite...gods, I can't remember the name of that book...
I think the book you're talking about is called "Herculine Barbin",
although I am not quite sure about the title either.
But something else: a third point of view???????
Where does this stop? There will always be 'others' in a discourse
decontructed like this. If we deconstruct the male/female dichotomy this
way we create a new one between sexed and non-sexed people, if we try to
look from a hermapphrodite perspective. I think the point Foucault tries to
make (why he brings in the hermaphrodite) is because he wants to show how
ridiculously important it seems to be for people to assign themselves a
sex.
The only use for decontruction is to end a useless distinction, not to
create even more useless distinctions. It is impossible to look at anything
without making distinctions. If I look and see 'Male', I also see 'female'.
The same way I can only distinguish 'black' by aknowleging 'white'.
Foucault's point (I think) is: 'Stop looking!' Am I male or female? Who
cares?
What I read in Foucaults work is not something he is saying, but something
he is showing. His critique of the social sciences: they see black, they
see white, they deconstruct it green, but if we look closely everything is
grey (and boring). My point is: a green point of view is evenly unjust as a
white point of view or a black point of view. Although it can be usefull to
try, it makes no sense to truly believe we ever can escape this.
/------------------------------------------------------------------
| Jeroen van Dalen | |
| | |
| Amsterdam | http://www.xs4all.nl/~cwbijjvd |
------------------------------------------------------------------/
------------------