Feminist, Queer, Postcolonial theories Flashcards
Feminist criticism
analyses the opposition of man
vs. woman
Feminist criticism, Queer theory, and Postcolonial
criticism have all partaken of the
poststructuralist reasoning to….
examine the binary
opposition of centre vs. margin that underlies
the dynamics of dominant power relations
Queer theory
considers the opposition of
heterosexuality vs. homosexuality
Postcolonial criticism
probes the opposition of
West vs. East
All these theories seek to deconstruct
the
dichotomies in which the second element is
perceived as non-normative, deficient, or
perverse.
For Spivak, literary tradition is
a male construct
which has used woman as a means of aesthetic
and ideological self-empowerment .
Literary tradition writes…
of women, not to them.
Écriture féminine
is conceptualised as “women’s
writing”, writing that derives from female
physiology, writing that transgresses the norm
associated with male writing.
Essentialism is
a radical point
of critique in queer theory, too.
Sex refers
to the biological attributes of a person,
in most cases falling into the category of either
man or woman, and in most cases reflected in
chromosomal differences
Gender “refers
to how a person expresses their
identity as either male or female, based on
clothing, behaviours and the use of particular
linguistic structures (such as he/she)
Sexual objectification of women stems from
the
dichotomy man vs. woman that is extended
into further dichotomies, such as culture vs.
nature, reason vs. body, etc
The sublime was
associated with ‘male’
virtues of heroism and grandeur.
the beautiful was
associated with
‘female’ virtues of subtlety and gracefulness.
Woman is
the archetypal Other.
The East is associated with
irrationality, sensuality,
chaos, mystery, exoticism as essential to its identity.
The West is linked to
reason, Logos, order as central
to its identity.
Western identity is built on
a sense of superiority
emanating from the interpretation of the dichotomy
of “East vs. West.”
Postcolonial criticism emerged
in the 1990s.
Postolonial criticism aim is
to undermine the universalist claims
once made on behalf of literature by liberal
humanists.
Claiming that great literature has a timeless and
universal significance demotes and disregards ….
cultural, social, regional, and national differences.
Postcolonial criticism
1) raises an awareness of representations of the
non-European as exotic or immoral Other;
2) problematises the use of language as a tool in
the construction of cultural identities;
3) offers a critique of essentialist readings of
identity as stable and pure rather than hybrid and
contingent.
The erasure of European anthropological discourse
is metaphorical of…
the double gesture through
which Abel both recalls a history of abuse and
calls it off.
Feminist, postcolonial criticism and queer
theory reject claims to universalism made on
behalf of canonical Western literature and….
seek
to show its conceptual limitations, especially in
its attempts to communicate across boundaries
of cultural, racial, and sexual difference.
Ideological criticism examines power relations
which…
obtain in texts and in life, with a view of
breaking them down, seeing reading as a political
act.
Ideological criticism recognises the role of….
language in making what is social and
constructed seem transparent and ‘natural’.
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Feminist criticism revalues
women’s
experience and challenges the representations
of women as Other, ‘lack’, or part of ‘nature’.
Queer theory addresses
the homophobia of
mainstream literature and criticism, as seen in
ignoring or denigrating the queer aspects of the
work of major canonical figures.
Postcolonial criticism draws attention
to issues
of cultural difference in literary texts.
Postcolonial criticism shows how literature
is often evasively and crucially silent on matters
concerned with colonisation and imperialism.
Ideological criticism foregrounds…
the
significance of discourse in the construction of
(gender, sexual, and cultural) identity.
Ideological criticism challenges
the
construction of the literary canon, pointing out
the ideological basis of the values endorsed
and disseminated through socially legitimised
institutions.
Foreground
make (something) the most prominent or important feature.
