In this sense, the reality of heterosexual identities is performatively constituted through an imitation that sets itself up as the origin and the ground of all imitations. In imitation and gender insubordination, reprinted here from insideout ed. Much of the work in gender studies and queer theory, while influenced by feminist criticism, emerges from poststructural interest in fragmented, decentered knowledge building nietzsche, derrida. Judith pamela butler born february 24, 1956 is an american philosopher and gender theorist. In gender trouble judith butler develops her famous performative theory of gender and the analysis of drag queens in this respect which tries to account the manner in which a subject identity is formed while establishing butlers claim that gender identity is not a manifestation of intrinsic essence but rather the product of actions and behaviors, that is, performance. Article information, pdf download for critique as a technique of self. Imitation and gender insubordination 1990 judith butler explores the production of identities such as homosexual and heterosexual and the limiting nature of identity categories. Butler believes that identity forms through repetition or imitation and is not original. Judith butler is influenced by lacanian psychoanalysis, phenomenology edmund husserl, maurice merleauponty, george herbert mead, etc. Here imitation carries the meaning of derivative or secondary, a copy of an origin which is itself the ground of all copies, but which is itself a copy of nothing.
Pdf imitation and gender insubordination ann teve academia. Judith butlers ideas about gender very influential to my understanding of gender and queerness. Imitation and gender insubordination by judith butler a summary on 22062014 22062014 by alla zaykova in summary the aim of butlers essay 2009, according to her, is to resist homophobic regulatory oppression through rethinking gender and sexuality. Imitation and gender insubordination article, 1997. Judith butler, imitation and gender insubordination pp. I read this piece as part of the judith butler reader, which was. Butler goes against the totalizing grand narratives of these. Judith butler, imitation and gender insubordination for tuesday, were read a bit of pretty intense genderqueer theory. Is there a pregiven distinction between theory, politics, culture, media.
In butlers 1990 piece imitation and gender insubordination, she dissects a number of issues surrounding queerness, identity, and performativity. When butler writes in her essay imitation and gender insubordination that gender is performative, she is borrowing from the vocabulary of performative speech acts developed by j. She focuses on lesbian identity in particular and the coming out process. In 1989 i was most concerned to criticize a pervasive heterosexual assumption in feminist literary theory. Imitation and gender insubordination is an expansion of some of butlers ideas in her previous, larger work, gender trouble. An instrument consisting on 61 phrases was created, that indicates gender subordination in the family. Search for library items search for lists search for contacts search for a library. Imitation and gender subordination by holly van every and ally holden coming out of the closet gender fluidity discussion questions lesbian and gay theory so we are out of the closet, but into what. Featuring essays by such prominent scholars as judith butler, john d. Insubordination judith butler hillary chiou kai clark lindsey maxon judith butler born february 24, 1956 american poststructuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics she is the maxine elliot professor in the rhetoric and comparative literature departments at the university of california, berkeley. Imitation and gender insubordination lesbian and gay studies reader. Butlers theories on gender identity and gender performativity were based on the notion of destabilizing gender identities and categories. Butler discusses the concept of oppression through being out and how it may create space for a new enclosure for one to be encompassed within. Butler, judith 1991, imitation and gender insubordination, in fuss, diana ed.
From imitation and gender insubordination im gonna keep hammering this idea home until you give me that knowing nod. The theory of gender performance or gender performativity was first coined in judith butlers 1990 book titled gender trouble. Imitation and gender insubordination 1990 judith butler explores the production of identities such as homosexual and heterosexual and the limiting nature of identity. Pdf gender subordination in the vulnerability of women. Butler argues that the act that one does, the act that one performs is, in a sense, an act thats been going on before one arrived on the scene gender trouble. Imitation and gender insubordination to theorize as a lesbian identity categories tend to be instruments of regulatory regimes she is troubled by identity categories because she considers them to be invariable stumbling blocks being in out of the closet always depends to some extent on being in coming out of the closet only produces a new opacity. Performativity of gender is a stylized repetition of acts, an imitation or miming of the dominant conventions of gender. Gender studies and queer theory purdue writing lab. In judith butlers article imitation and gender insubordination she argues, through my interpretation, the ideas around identity and classification.
File type pdf undoing gender judith butler feminist theory about gender trouble and her ideas about gender performativity. Judith butler, imitation and gender insubordination an. Judith butler, imitation and gender insubordination. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, essential notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, butler starts by questioning the category woman and continues in this vein. Butler, imitation and gender insubordination qmplus. The butler affair and the geopolitics of identity pdf. One of the most talkedabout scholarly works of the past 50 years, judith butlers gender trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial.
Judith butler imitation and gender insubordination scribd. This term can refer to gender identity, or gender role and refers to someone who falls outside or transcends what is considered to be traditional gendernorms for their assigned sex. Judith butler, imitation and gender insubordination butler, judith. In judith butlers, imitation and gender insubordination, these are the questions she seems to be asking and addressing. Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary, and sometimes antidisciplinary, approach to the study of culture, particularly its broadlyconceived and complex array of signifying practices. Imitation and gender insubordination by judith butler is a pathbreaking, postmodern feminist piece of social theory in which butler eloquently manages to obliterate many heterosexist assumptions rooted in modernity, enlightenment and poststructural psychoanalysis on issues of gender, sexuality, identity and agency. Gender studies and queer theory explore issues of sexuality, power, and marginalized populations woman as other in literature and culture. Intertexuality between imitation and gender insubordination and uncle in the short story uncle narrated by a sixyearold boy named jake, the idea of when someones sexuality can determined is brought up by jakes recounting of his sexual thoughts and experiences with his older brother, vince, and his uncle james. After the assessment from ten judges, 34 phrases were validated. In this piece butlers main arguments are, coming out of the closet can be just as isolating as staying in, gender is performed and. Imitation and gender insubordination 1990 the lesbian phallus and the morphological imaginary 1993 the force of fantasy.
An identity category for her is a result of certain exclusions and concealments, and thus a site of regulation. In this essay, she employs the concepts of playperformance, drag, and imitation to describe the formation of gender and sexuality as continually created subjectivities always at risk of dissolution from non. What came first the chicken or the egg, the homosexuals or the heterosexuals. Gender is a kind of imitation for which there is no original. Judith butler imitation and gender insubordination essay. How do we perform heterosexuality through clothes, dress, acoutrements. I sought to counter those views that made presumptions about the limits and propriety of gender and restricted the meaning of gender to. Introduction to judith butler, module on performativity. Week 11 student presentations week 12 student presentations. In butlers 1990 piece imitation and gender insubordination, she dissects a number of issues surrounding queerness, identity, and. Diana fuss, 1991, butler expl oru the ways in which the assumption of a lesbian identity can serve not only affirm but also to constrain, legislate, determine, or specify ones identity in ways that support the categories. How do we perform homosexuality through clothes, dress, acoutrements. Imitation and gender subordination by holly van every on prezi. Discussion questions for judith butler reading imitation.
Bringing together fortytwo groundbreaking essaysmany of them already classicsthe lesbian and gay studies reader provides a muchneeded introduction to the contemporary state of lesbiangay studies, extensively illustrating the range, scope, diversity, appeal, and power of the work currently being done in the field. Cultural studies theorists assume that culture cannot be understood apart from politics, and cultural. Theories in cultural studies department of english. When butler writes in her essay imitation and gender insubordination that gender is performative, she is borrowing from the vocabulary of performative speech. Mapplethorpe, feminism, and discursive excess 1990 endangeredendangering.
In austins terminology, performative speech acts are those incidents of language that bring a change in realworld conditions by the very act of. Judith butler, imitation and gender insubordination, in insideout, ed. Week 9 read imitation and gender insubordination and mother camp week 10 read dibbel, haraway, and turkle all presentations must be uploaded to canvas by tba. User lists with this item judith butler 108 items by projekti. Diana fuss, 1991, butler explores the ways in which the assumption of a lesbian. Gender jokingjokes with gender content and made across gender lines, almost entirely initiated by menoperate to keep women in a subordinate position through stereotypes, conventional images, and definitions of women at work in sexual, domestic, or maternal terms. Imitation and gender insubordination 19901 introduction although parts of this article were presented at the conference on homosexuality at yale university in 1989, imitation and gender insubordination appeared in print after the publication of gender trouble, and it addresses and extends a number of the issues butler. Diana fuss 1991 in the passage above, butler rehearses the theory of identity as performative, stated in impersonal thirdperson terms in gender trouble, with reference to herself. Judith butler imitation and gender insubordination free download as pdf file. Imitation and gender insubordination, in the second wave. We see her own, experiential sense of how being a lesbian is differently important.
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