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What Does Affect Theory Do? Or, How to Pay Attention to the Possibilities of Attending
Get PDFThe present paper explores the role of affect theory in social and political critique, specifically in terms of how it relates to modes of attending in the context of theorizing. In this regard, I examine why affect theory has markedly reshaped the contours of social and political academic discourse in recent decades, and what alternatives to theorizing it introduces or enables new openings to. In order to answer these questions, I delve into the works of various scholars who use affect theory as a framework for theorizing. I posit that engaging in an affective mode of attending enables attention to structures of bifurcation rather than binaries, by conceptualizing theory in terms of beside-ness rather than beyond-ness. In doing so, I aim to shed light on what an affective mode of attending might be, and what affect theory can teach us about what it means to attend, or how to engage in alternative attendings. I conclude the paper with a consideration of the ‘So what?’ question—in other words, why is the attention to attending significant? By attending to the possibilities inherent in alternative attendings, affect theory illuminates that there need not be ‘outside-ness’ understood in the sense of ‘beyond-ness’ for there to be an out- side in the sense of an alternative. To attend to something from a different stance, which then conditions different contours for the possibilities enabled from that stance, means that there exist multiple ‘outsides’ from within the supposed ‘inside’.
Going North: Glenn Gould, Stars and the Authentic Self
Get PDFOn December 28th, 1967, CBC aired an hour long documentary labelled the The Idea of North as part of its yearlong Canadian centennial celebration. Conceived by the well-known Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, the piece puts the voices of five speakers in dialogue by splicing and juxtaposing the text of the five, creating an aural collage which highlights common themes. The end result forms what Gould termed “Contrapuntal radio,” a format he would employ again in the next two installment of The Solitude Trilogy. A brief fragment from this documentary is later sampled by Canadian indie bad Stars, to open their 2012 album The North. Whether or not Stars were overtly influenced by Glenn Gould’s sound documentary is unclear. What I would like to suggests is that like The Idea of North, the album participates in a long Canadian tradition of engaging with northern themes, and thus contribute to the discursive formation of the North. Similar to the way in Gould juxtaposed the voices of his subjects, I will be taking the opening citation of The North as an invitation to put the two works in dialogue and argue that by employing a Northern discourse, often steeped in nostalgia, Stars are able to position themselves as an authentic indie band.
Anecdotally Queer: The Then and There of My Prairie Home
Get PDFThis paper considers two contested spatial and temporal thresholds in relation to queer and trans life: the threshold between urban and rural, and the threshold between past and future. Through a discursive analysis of Chelsea McMullan’s 2013 documentary on trans singer-songwriter Rae Spoon My Prairie Home, I explore the queer possibilities situated between these thresholds and provide an opportunity to rethink our assumptions about queer and trans identities in rural spaces. Drawing together recent queer theory that reconceptualizes queerness as undecidability, Meghan Morris’s theory of anecdotal identity and Michel de Certeau’s philosophy of spatial stories, I argue that My Prairie Home offers us an anecdotal vision of queer rural life. The rural becomes queer and thus becomes an undecidable space that we cross on our way home. Contrary to the common perception that the urban is the only spatial configuration in which queers can flourish, I rescue the rural as a necessary approach to thinking queer life. KEYWORDS: space and time; rural; anecdote; queer; transgender; futures
Sexual Violence against Indigenous Women: Policies, Human Rights and the Myth of Development
Get PDFThis paper addresses issues regarding the definition of sexual violence in the context of Canada’s development discourse in the Third World vis-à-vis the domestic experiences of Indigenous women. Despite the fact that sexual violence is often defined as rape or unwanted sexual contact, the author argues that Indigenous female victims of sexual violence are strongly influenced by other systems of oppression. Systems like the coloniality of power, a term coined by Anibal Quijano, the coloniality of gender, a term best explored in the works of Maria Lugones, capitalism, heteropatriarchy and racism, among others, should be considered when discussing women of colour’s experiences of sexual violence. Hence, the notion of sexual violence purely as rape further marginalizes women of colour, including Indigenous women. Through the notion of intersectionality (Crenshaw 1991), this article aims to produce change towards redefining sexual violence in a way that better reflects the experiences of women of colour, while challenging systemic oppression. KEYWORDS: Sexual violence, Indigenous women, Development, Policy, Intersectionality, Coloniality
The Claim of Fragmented Self in Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
Get PDFThis paper offers a discursive reading of the Autobiography of Red (1998) written by Anne Carson, a novel loosely based on the myth of Geryon and the Tenth Labor of Herakles. Carson’s Geryon is a fragmented modern subject who is molested as a child and betrayed in a love affair as an adult. At one of its thematic levels the work examines the efforts of an outcast who attempts to reclaim a meaningful subjectivity in a modern world characterized by fragmentation grounded in anxieties, frenetic confusion, and cultural pressures.The term “fragmentation” has a multiplicity of meanings and changes its signi - cance depending on the individual/subjective sociocultural context. The study of the formation of a fragmented self must take into account the variety of factors, including class, gender and cultural frameworks. This paper interrogates such symbiotic relationships between the processes of subject fragmentation within a social realm and the principles and values introduced by the power structures apparent within society. Referring to Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, where discipline “makes” individuals in the society and is the technique used by the dominant power to control its subjects as instruments, this paper examines the connection between Carson’s novel and the notion of agency within fragmentation. By portraying a sexually disoriented subject, Carson shows how power structures are formed and manipulated through its agents (Geryon’s mother, brother and Herakles), and offers an illustration of the alternatives available to those who resist being framed. I examine the portrayals of such subjects’ striving for liberation from the hierarchies of power through the intertextual embodiment of the image of an eruptive volcano and its generative power of wrath which resists to be categorized or tamed by “Mother Nature.” This paper evaluates the essential features and outcomes of the myth of Geryon as a study of a fragmented subject struggling to bring the fissuring dimensions of his personality and sexuality together to form an autonomous subjectivity.KEYWORDS: Subjectivity, Fragmentation, Power Principle, Body, Individuality Norms
Reflections on Immediatism and Aesthetics
Get PDFThis paper considers the aesthetic and political implications of Hakim Bey’s (also known as Peter Lamborn Wilson) Immediatist project. The paper begins with a discussion of the cosmogonic notions of Chaos and nothing that Bey adopts in his work and explores the ways in which these notions are foundational to his concept of Ontological Anarchy. It is then explained how, through indiscriminately drawing on a variety of mystical and magical traditions (from those of Pagan Greece and Ancient India to the contemporary Western Occult world) Immediatism aims to establish an experiential foundation for the reality of interdependent non-dual wholeness. In order to advance Bey’s critique of ‘the sleep of Order’, pathological (calculative) reason, and Western technological development, his work is brought into dialogue with that of schizoanalyst and philosopher Felix Guattari. The final part of this paper discusses the implications of Bey’s Immediatist project for contemporary artistic practice, with special emphasis placed on musical forms and the possibility of reviving Occidental sacred musical traditions. KEYWORDS: Hakim Bey, Peter Lamborn Wilson, Felix Guattari, Chaos, Nothing, Ontological Anarchy
Youth Engagement and the Colbert Nation: From Passive Consumer to Passively-Active Viewer
Get PDFThe youth of today have been cast in a state of temporality, with no way of knowing whether their condition is permanent or transitionary. Today’s youth are regarded as a low priority by politicians, and scholars and policymakers often view this dis- connection as a crisis in citizenship within advanced industrial democracies. is disengagement from electoral politics has contributed to several underlying issues, such as, a feeling of alienation from the political process, and a growing disinterest toward the political system. However, young people are now engaging in non- electoral forms of civic and political engagement, such as, participatory culture, which facilitates space for political and civic youth mobilization, and this, in turn, promotes democratic values of involvement.This paper examines the institutionalization of political media satire, with a speci c focus on the commodi cation of the content found on The Colbert Report. I will explore the role of institutionalized political satire within hegemonic institutions, and argue that TCR creates a viewership based on the fetishism of commodities. However, where fetishism often generates passive reception, I argue that the com- modi cation of political content and TCR fandom culture generates a passively- active viewer, and facilitates a space for youth engagement. For reasons discussed, it remains an open question whether young people will take full advantage of the political knowledge and awareness gained from watching TCR, and whether this will lead to future political advocacy. Keywords: Colbert Report, civic engagement, political media e ects, political satire, political participation, youth participation.
Colorblindness in the Public Consciousness
Get PDFThis paper explores the relationship between the public narrative created by dominant socio-ethnic groups and the people being represented in that discourse through the frame of racial colorblindness. Colorblind ideology pervades American public discourse and negatively affects social perception of race in conflict situations. Although some well-intentioned aspects of colorblind policy allow for racial diversity, colorblind ideology is insufficient to protect the rights of minorities and underprivileged groups. An analysis of the philosophy behind racial colorblindness illustrates how groups reinforce privilege and recognizes the reasons why the ideal of racial colorblindness persists despite flaws and inaccuracies. Three individual statements from key figures in Ferguson demonstrate this racial colorblindness, and at times even specifically mention colorblind ideology. This paper unpacks the cultural understanding of racial colorblindness, recognizes the perceptions and perspectives of the speakers, and demonstrates the problems that emerge when the myth of racial colorblindness is left unchecked.KEYWORDS: racial colorblindness, narrative identity, intergroup communication, Ferguson