scholarly journals Queering Drama - Or Let the Classics Going Beyond Limits

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Patricia Nedelea
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Original Method ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Heterosexual Woman ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Performance Results

AbstractThis article proposes, explains and describes an original method called Queering Drama, which is the result of this article’s author one decade of research. Queering Drama is not just a theoretical work hypothesis, but also a practical performing method of going beyond limits by Queering the characters of any classic play (the Queering Drama method can be applied to modern plays as well, but the classic plays are the ones most staged, in greater need for new meanings and refashioning). What happened if one character from a classic play would not be put on stage and played as the dramatist dictates, from a sex and gender perspective? What if, instead of a heterosexual woman (labeled by the dramatist as the wife of..., the daughter of...), the character were played as a bisexual male, or a lesbian female, or a plurisexual hermaphrodite? How would that change the relations between the characters? Would it make a difference? Would such staging change the meanings of the play? Queering Drama involves rethinking and discovering new ways of reading old iconic plays, more specifically through their (iconic, by now) characters, and implicitly uncovering new ways of putting them on stage. The possible performance results are infinite new meanings of old plays, original ways of looking at classic characters and unseen, maybe unimaginable ways of staging the classics. The multidisciplinary theoretical base of this daring aim at Drama and Stage, coming from Pirandello the dramatist, entangles the academic fields of Drama, Feminist Theory, Literary Theory and Epistemology.

scholarly journals Forensic evidence: Materializing bodies, materializing crimes

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna Kruse
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Sociocultural Context ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Forensic Evidence ◽  
Dna Evidence ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Point Of Departure

Based on an ethnographic study of fingerprint and DNA evidence practices in the Swedish judicial system, this article analyses the materialization of forensic evidence. It argues that forensic evidence, while popularly understood as firmly rooted in materiality, is inseparably technoscientific and cultural. Its roots in the material world are entangled threads of matter, technoscience and culture that produce particular bodily constellations within and together with a particular sociocultural context. Forensic evidence, it argues further, is co-materialized with crimes as well as with particular bodily and social constellations. Consequently, the article suggests that an analysis of how forensic evidence is produced can contribute to feminist understandings of the inseparability of sex and gender: understanding bodies as ongoing technoscientific-material-cultural practices of materialization may be a fruitful approach to analysing their complexity, and the relationships in which they are placed, without surrendering to either cultural or biological determinism. Taking a theoretical point of departure not only in an STS-informed approach, but also in material feminist theorizations, the article also underlines that the suggested theoretical conversations across borders of feminist theory and STS should be understood as a two-way-communication where the two fields contribute mutually to each other.

scholarly journals Flipside Theory: Emerging Perspectives in Literary Criticism

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Chinedu Nwadike ◽  
Chibuzo Onunkwo
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
New Historicism ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Perceived Needs ◽  
Literary Theories ◽  
The Rich ◽  
And Gender

Literary theories have arisen to address some perceived needs in the critical appreciation of literature but flipside theory is a novelty that fills a gap in literary theory. By means of a critical look at some literary theories particularly Formalism, Marxism, structuralism, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and feminism but also Queer theory, New Criticism, New Historicism, postcolonialism, and reader-response, this essay establishes that a gap exists, which is the lack of a literary theory that laser-focuses on depictions of victims of social existence (people who simply for reasons of where and when they are born, where they reside and other unforeseen circumstances are pushed to the margins). Flipside criticism investigates whether such people are depicted as main characters in works of literature, and if so, how they impact society in very decisive ways such as causing the rise or fall of some important people, groups or social dynamics while still characterized as flipside society rather than developed to flipview society. While flipside literary criticism can be done on any work of literature, only works that distinctively provide this kind of plot can lay claim to being flipside works. This essay also distinguishes flipside theory from others that multitask such as Marxism, which explores the economy and class conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and feminism, which explores depictions of women (the rich and the poor alike) and issues of sex and gender. In addition, flipside theory underscores the point that society is equally constituted by both flipview society and flipside society like two sides of a coin.

9. Gender

2019 ◽  
pp. 176-198
Author(s):  
Clare Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Gender Difference ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Woman Question ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Consciousness Raising ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Feminist Methods ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Biological Differences

This chapter discusses gender. Mainstream political theorists have often ignored the issue of gender difference, and so feminists have had to argue for its significance and importance. There are many varieties of feminism, just as there are many varieties of liberalism or egalitarianism. However, it is possible to identify three theses that all feminists support, in one form or another. These theses are the entrenchment of gender; the existence of patriarchy; and the need for change. A key theme of feminist theory has been the idea that it is vital to distinguish the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. According to the distinction, ‘sex’ refers to biological differences and ‘gender’ refers to social differences. Feminists use philosophical and political methods that are common to other theories or campaigns, but there are some distinctively feminist methods, such as the Woman Question and consciousness raising.

Making sex: law's narratives of sex, gender and identity

Legal Studies ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Grenfell
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Constructive Approach ◽  
Biological Factors ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Legal Narratives ◽  
And Gender

From the 1970 decision of Corbett onwards, legal narratives established two modes of categorising complex social identity in relation to sex and gender. These narratives responded to complex identity questions by attempting to simplify identity by limiting it to biological factors or anatomical and psychological factors.I demonstrate that the law's struggle to ‘make’ sex is reflected to a certain extent by feminism's trajectory, in that feminisms have also attempted to grapple with these complex questions, and often opted for the same simple solutions to the problem of understanding gender, sex and identity. The aim of this paper is to show that some strands of feminist theory, specifically post-structuralist feminist theory, can produce a more progressive and constructive approach to determining sex in their ability to illuminate the complexities of identity. In particular, my aim is to urge those courts that ‘make’ sex to consider these complexities and the implications that flow from placing transgender people into rigid and narrow categories.

scholarly journals Gender Precarity: Gender Identity and the Economy of Authenticity

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-75
Author(s):  
Benjamin Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Trans People ◽  
The Common ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Trouble

In this paper I examine the role of authenticity within contemporary debates about gender identity with an eye to exploring the structure of sex and gender-based oppressions - with particular consideration with the marginalisation of trans subjects. I begin with a return to Butler's Gender Trouble to critically examine her ontology of gender and the suggestion that gender cannot be a matter of authenticity. Though this disagrees with the common schematic of trans identity mobilised within contemporary identity politics, this paper seeks to use this critique to provide a deeper explanation of trans oppression within the context of Butler's heterosexual matrix. The aim of this move is to situate trans struggles as central within philosophical feminist theory - whilst breaking from several of the shortcomings of contemporary identity ontology. These considerations will then be explored alongside Butler's work in Precarious Life, wherein the oppression of trans people will be explored in how these subjects bear a greater burden of authenticity - wherein trans genders are automatically regarded as authentic whereas cis genders remain unquestioned. This contextualises the rhetorical and ontological move adopted by many trans activists whereby they present gender as a matter of absolute and inviolable fact - which is incompatible with Butler's ontology of gender. Using bother of Butler's texts, we can regard this move as the pursuit of an impossible security, a move that serves to obscure the inauthenticity of gender overall. Instead, we are encouraged to embrace in inauthenticity of gender and to refuse to allow ourselves to sink into an economy of authenticity that marginalises trans subjects.

Rabbinic Tales of Destruction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Watts Belser
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
The Body ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Body Politics ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Forced Prostitution ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
And Gender

Rabbinic Tales of Destruction examines early Jewish accounts of the Roman conquest of Jerusalem from the perspective of the wounded body and the scarred land. Amidst stories saturated with sexual violence, enslavement, forced prostitution, disability, and bodily risk, the book argues that rabbinic narrative wrestles with the brutal body costs of Roman imperial domination. It brings disability studies, feminist theory, and new materialist ecological thought to accounts of rabbinic catastrophe, revealing how rabbinic discourses of gender, sexuality, and the body are shaped in the shadow of empire. Focusing on the Babylonian Talmud’s longest account of the destruction of the Second Temple, the book reveals the distinctive sex and gender politics of Bavli Gittin. While Palestinian tales frequently castigate the “wayward woman” for sexual transgressions that imperil the nation, Bavli Gittin’s stories resist portraying women’s sexuality as a cause of catastrophe. Rather than castigate women’s beauty as the cause of sexual sin, Bavli Gittin’s tales express a strikingly egalitarian discourse that laments the vulnerability of both male and female bodies before the conqueror. Bavli Gittin’s body politics align with a significant theological reorientation. Bavli Gittin does not explain catastrophe as divine chastisement. Instead of imagining God as the architect of Jewish suffering, it evokes God’s empathy with the subjugated Jewish body and forges a sharp critique of empire. Its critical discourse aims to pierce the power politics of Roman conquest, to protest the brutality of imperial dominance, and to make plain the scar that Roman violence leaves upon Jewish flesh.

Goffman in Feminist Perspective

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candace West
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Feminist Perspective ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Spoken Interaction

In this paper, my aim is to call attention to Erving Goffman's contributions to feminist theory. I begin by reviewing his sociological agenda and assessments of that agenda by his critics. Next, I consider various substantive contributions of his work to our understanding of women's experiences in public places, spoken interaction between women and men, and sex and gender. I conclude with a discussion of the significance of Goffman's work for analyzing the politics of and in the personal sphere.

scholarly journals Kønnets regerende dronning - en introduktion til køn og krop i Judith Butlers forfatterskab

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christel Stormhøj
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Gender Performativity ◽  
Main Thesis ◽  
Critical Resource ◽  
And Gender

This article introduces the work of Judith Butler, whose theory of gender performativity has become highly influential in contemporary studies of gender and sexuality. Her main thesis is that both gender and sex are produced by discourse. In order to deal with the discursive construction of bodies, it is necessary to move beyond the opposition between sex and gender long upheld in feminist theory. Butler's theory is intended as an improvement on constructionism. Understanding construction as involving the materialization of determinate types of bodies through the iteration of gender-constituting performatives, she argues that both sex and gender are co-original effects of this process. The function of performatives is to create heterosexually structured bodies and subjects, and these performatives operate by prescribing other identifications. Because there is never any easy fit between the stream of identifications and desires and the performativity of prescribtions and proscribtions, identities are always phantasmatic. The constitution of a heterosexually organized, gender differentiated identity rests on that which has been excluded and abjection figures as a critical resource on the struggle to rearticulate the terms of symbolic intelligibility and legitimacy in Butler's political vision.

scholarly journals The feminist politics of naming violence

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-216
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Frazer ◽  
Kimberly Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

The naming of violence in feminist political campaigns and in the context of feminist theory has rhetorical and political effects. Feminist contention about the scope and meaning of ‘Violence against Women' (VAW) and ‘Sex and Gender-Based Violence' (SGBV), and about the concepts of gender and of violence itself, are fundamentally debates about the politics of feminist contestation, and the goals, strategies and tactics of feminist organisation, campaigns and action. This article examines the propulsion since the late twentieth century of the problems of VAW and SGBV on to global and national political agendas. The feminist theory that underpins the uptake of this new agenda is contested by opponents of feminism. More significantly for the article it is also contested within feminism, in disputes about how feminist political aims should be furthered, through what institutions and with what strategic goals in view. The article aims to show that theoretical and philosophical controversy about the concepts of violence, and sex and gender, are always political, both in the sense that they are an aspect of feminist competition about how feminist politics should proceed, and in the sense that the political implications of concepts and theory must always be a significant factor in their salience for feminist action.

scholarly journals Discourse analysis of gender equality and non-discrimination laws and strategies

Temida ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-117
Author(s):  
Zorana Antonijevic ◽  
Kosana Beker
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
The Law ◽  
And Gender

Based on the contemporary research on gender and language, using the method of discourse analysis applied to the laws and policies, this article explains how certain linguistic practice, in the context of the administrative discourse, produces meaning that may or may not contribute to its better understanding and more efficient implementation. Through discourse analysis of gender equality and non-discrimination laws and strategies in Serbia, it has been shown how and with what consequences the socio-political and academic elites affect defining and promoting certain concepts (gender, sex, gender equality, discrimination) in one social and historical moment. The paper is placed in the theoretical framework of three visions of gender equality: perspective of equal treatment, women?s perspectives and gender perspective (Booth, Bennett 2002), that are corresponding to the three strategies for achieving gender equality: equal treatment, specific policy of gender equality and gender mainstreaming (Verloo, 2001). The discourse analysis of the Law on Gender Equality (2009), the National Strategy for the Improvement of the Position of Women and Advancement of Gender Equality (2009), the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination (2009) and the Strategy for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination (2013), has shown the context of use and meaning of terms gender and sex, as well as implications it has on their potential to change the existing paradigms and understanding of gender equality, and the implementation of policies in Serbia. Analysis of the use of terms sex and gender in the most important legal and strategic documents for achieving gender equality, showed that the choice of certain categories and terms is always a political choice. The authors show how these documents are written in the key of two gender perspectives and strategies: equal treatment and the specific policy of gender equality, while the third - introduction of a gender perspective and gender mainstreaming is almost not mentioned, although it is consider to have the greatest potential for transformation of existing patterns of power and hierarchy in society (Booth, Bennett, 2002; Verloo 2005; Walby, 2011). While it is clear that neither laws nor strategies can reflect the complete corpus of knowledge and ideology of gender equality and feminist theory, it is essential that they, at the discourse level, act as a source of new knowledge and understanding of these concepts. Better connection between these documents and the contemporary feminist theory, the use of knowledge accumulated within gender studies, as well as their consistent linguistic and terminological compatibility and innovation, would contribute to a better understanding of concepts, terminology and knowledge of gender equality among the general public.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document