HANDOUT ON QUEER THEORY: EVE KOSOFSKY SEDGWICK. Assignment for next time. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, “Introduction: Axiomatic,” Epistemology of. Epistemology of the Closet is a book published in by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, who is considered one of the founders of queer studies. In Epistemology of. Epistemology of the closct / Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, p. cm. Includes . axiomatic, that modern Western culture has placed what it calls sexuality in a more and.
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To think, read or act queerly is to think across boundaries, beyond what is deemed to be normal, to jump at the possibilities opened up by celebrating marginality, which in itself serves to destabilise the mainstream. Posted by Bellatricksy at 7: In thinking about this one, remember Joan Scott’s claim that the “difference-versus-equlity” debate puts feminists in an “impossible position.
She acknowledges her Foucauldian influence, specifically in the recognition of the connection between sexuality and knowledge: How do you know your kids are straight? Among other things, she says:. It draws on French philosopher Michel Foucault’s writings on sexuality and his notion that bodies are given meaning by discourse and social structures of knowledge and power. English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire Epistemology literature books Queer studies Contemporary philosophical literature.
I could understand the import of the work. And why, finally, does Sedgwick want to avoid the debate entirely?
Epistemology of the Closet has received many positive reviews. I loved this attitude. Axiomatic,” Epistemology of the Closet Berkeley: In her second paragraph, Sedgwick insists on the “internal incoherence and mutual contradiction” axiomaic “commonsense views” i. What’s up with this? For Sedgwick, the study of sex is not coextensive with the study of gender, as sex is chromosomal and gender is constructed. Anonymous December 17, at 1: And how is that concern related to her original point about the contradictions in homophobic, anti-gay ideologies?
Throughout this introduction, Sedgwick refers to the debate between “essentialist” and “constructivist” views of homosexual identity or “definition.
Eve Sedgwick, “Axiomatic” by Giovanna Pompele on Prezi
She also notes that it is hard to convey now the emergency of the late s of the AIDS srdgwick, which Epistemology was also a response to:. Her main interest lies not in identifying particular statements as constantive or performative.
And if queer is anything, it’s a retort to the idea that your sexual or any identity must define you in a static, limiting way, and above all, that sergwick may be used to xaiomatic you. Sedgwick uses the writings of these authors to point out examples in other pieces of famous literary text that help propel her argument about the binary behind the homosexual identity and how language serves to define that binary. Is her position on this issue, which she states as her fourth axiom, at all unexpected?
Sedgwick also addresses the ways in which the relationship between sex and gender can be compared to the relationship between race and class.
Epistemology of the Closet has also had a tremendous impact in the gay community as it is known for being a very “important book”, and “one of the key axkomatic of queer theory, and, as such, is a challenging book to read.
As Sedgwick writes elsewhere, “queer is a continuing moment, movement, motive — recurrent, eddying, troublant”. More than any other book, Epistemology of the Closet has probably had the greatest ebe on geographical research on sexualities. On publication, the book attracted attention from the publication magazine The Sedgwivkwhich described it as “a remarkable work of mind and spirit”, in which “the literary analyses are excellent”.
The book proposes the argument that “homosexuality” is a loaded term.
Epistemology of the Closet – Wikipedia
It’s worth quoting a few in full: Like Epistemology of the ClosetTouching Feeling also focuses on ideas of queer theory. It will help to keep in mind Freud’s notion of “kettle logic,” which he develops in The Interpretation of Dreams.
Is she afraid of feminism, bored by lesbians? In the introduction, Sedgwick presents axioms — “assumptions and conclusions from a long-term project of anti-homophobic analysis” — that inform her book’s project. The first book to grab me axiomstic the Butler, and this was mainly because of the resonance of the sepia-toned image on the cover of my Routledge edition, which mirrored that photograph from my childhood.
Nonetheless, it is probably precisely those readers who could learn the most from Epistemology of the Closetwhich reestablishes Sedgwick’s position as one of the most important thinkers in American gay studies. Now, where does Dollimore stand in the “nature-versus-nurture debate”? To invoke the utopian bedroom scene of Chuck Berry’s immortal aubade: The variety of sexuality has some links to gender, in that some sexual preference is gender-related, but there are many more dimensions to sexuality which have nothing to do with gender—power, positions, sexual acts.
To prove this obvious but overlooked fact, Sedgwick lists a series of things “that sedgwicm differentiate even people of identical gender, race, nationality, class, and ‘sexual orientation’ — each one of which, however, if taken seriously as pure differenceretains the unaccounted-for potential to disrupt many forms of the available thinking about sexuality”.
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Judith Butler showed me the transformative power of the word queer
Sedgwick argues that limiting sexuality axiomativ homosexuality or heterosexualityin a structured binary opposition, is just too simplistic. The study of sexuality is not coextensive with the sedgwic of gender; correspondingly, antihomophobic inquiry is not coextensive with feminist inquiry. Retrieved from ” https: In Epistemology of the ClosetSedgwick argues that standard binary oppositions limit freedom and understanding, especially in the context of sexuality. This book addresses the idea that there are two views that guide sexual identity rve desire: By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Views Read Edit View history. As explained in the book, some women, according to Sedgwick, call themselves ” lesbians ” yet they do not identify at all with the term “gay”. What does Sedgwick have to say about the relationships among and between scholars mainly interested in gender and scholars mainly interested in sexuality?
Now, as you’ll recall, Butler uses this distinction to analyze statements like “I am a man” or “I am a lesbian,” insisting that such statements, which might appear to sedgwickk “constantives,” are really “performatives” through and through. In her preface, Sedgwick examines the book both personally and historically, as she analyzes the first wave of the AIDS axiommatic and its influence on the text.
This page was last edited on 12 Februaryat Newer Post Older Post Home. I dismissed it, later, as a rather embarrassing phase, best forgotten or else laughed away, to do with being a tomboy, whatever that meant.