Lesson 4: Post structuralism and Deconstruction Flashcards
When did Post structuralism and deconstruction emerged?
mid 20th century
How are post structuralism and deconstruction closely related?
Both reject the foundational ideas of structuralism, reject the idea that meaning is fixed, stable, and universal
Post structuralism is a reaction against what?
Structuralism
It rejects the idea that structures can provide stable, universal truths.
Post structuralism
What does Post structuralism emphasize?
instability, fluidity, and contingency of meanings
Core concepts of post structuralism
Clue: (LamAnesMumPod)
Language is not a neutral tool for conveying meaning but is a dynamic & unstable system (Language & meaning); Reject the idea that there is an essential, unchanging nature to things (anti-essentialism); There is pluralism in post structuralism, multiple meanings influenced by different perspectives (Multiplicity of meaning); power like language, institutions, social practices, can shape discourse (Power & Discourse)
He focused on how knowledge is intertwined with power, and how institutions (and others) normalize practices and construct truth
Michel Foucault
He states that the author’s intentions are less important than how readers interpret the text
Roland Barthes
From what essay did Barthes say that the author’s intentions are not important, and that readers role are more active in constructing meaning?
“The Death of the Author”
The key figure in deconstruction, the term “differance” being one of the deep influences in poststructuralism
Jacques Derrida
To Derrida, meanings are?
never fixed, and always shifting, always deferred and different
This movement focuses on contradictions and tensions within the texts themselves, showing how texts UNDERMINE their own apparent coherence
Deconstruction
Core concepts of deconstruction
Clue: DBUma
Differance (meaning is always deferred or never fully present); Binary oppositions; Undermining metaphysical assumptions
What does deconstruction critique?
The traditional metaphysical assumptions such as, presence (meaning can be fully present and grasped), identity (things being what they are), and centeredness (there is a fixed center from which meaning flows)
In close reading, deconstruction involves?
reading text in ways that uncover their internal contradictions and instability of their meaning
Deconstruction reverses hierarchies, inverting the binary oppositions. True or false?
True
Analyze The Woman with Two navels using Poststructuralism (short only)
Answer
Use Deconstruction in Taylor Swift’s Out of the Woods & Taylor Swift’s Haunted
Answer
Post structuralism or deconstruction
Broad intellectual movement
Post structuralism
Post structuralism or deconstruction
specific method or theory within the larger umbrella of post structuralism
deconstruction
Post structuralism or deconstruction
analyzing texts and exposing contradictions inherent in language and meaning
deconstruction
Post structuralism or deconstruction
focus on instability of meaning, identity, & power
Post structuralism
Post structuralism or deconstruction
focus on internal instability of texts
deconstruction
Post structuralism or deconstruction
concerned with relativity of meaning, the contingency of truth, and the multiplicity of interpretations
Post structuralism
