Queer theory / post-structuralism

Question 1

what is structuralism interested in?

Answer 1

interested in the unconscious structures and social forces that regulate human conduct

Question 2

what does Bordieu consider in his study ‘the Berber House or the World Reversed’?

Answer 2

Looked at how houses were structured and organised, represented the deep structures people lived with

Question 3

what differentiates structuralism and phenomenology?

Answer 3

Focuses on direct experience, but experience can only be made sense of through concepts, which are structured

Question 4

what 2 linguistic structures did Saussure label?

Answer 4

Launge and parole

Question 5

what is Launge to Saussure?

Answer 5

formal, grammatical system of language

Question 6

what is Parole to Saussure?

Answer 6

speech, the way we use language to express ourselves

Question 7

what did Saussure argue?

Answer 7

Linguists need to study launge rather than the subjective ways people use language

Question 8

what is a signifier?

Answer 8

arbitrary word, actual word itself

Question 9

what is a signified?

Answer 9

abstract concept/idea of what a cat is

Question 10

what did Foucault believe about structuralism?

Answer 10

Proposes that systems of thought and knowledge are governed by rules that operate beneath the consciousness of individual subjects

Question 11

what does Foucault address in the Archaeology of Knowledge?

Answer 11

Foucault attempts to uncover the different conditions that make discourse possible

Question 12

what does the Archaeology of Knowledge mean?

Answer 12

the study of the rules that determine what can be said within a particular discourse

Question 13

what example does Foucault utilise in the Archaeology of Knowledge?

Answer 13

Foucault uses his archaeological method to study psychiatry. He was interested in the discourses that categorise certain individuals as deviant or insane – fund that within a certain point of history those who were ‘mad’ were seen as having a certain type of wisdom, however with the advent of medicalization and enlightenment they become excluded

Question 14

what does Foucault believe influences the ‘truth’?

Answer 14

Some individuals in more important positions to define ‘truth’

Question 15

what is the genealogical method?

Answer 15

a form of history that accounts for the constitution of knowledge and discourse on terms of power

Question 16

why did Foucault move away from the archaeological approach?

Answer 16

it wasn’t focused enough on issues concerning power, which is distributed unequally

Question 17

what does Foucault highlight about sexuality in the History of Sexuality?

Answer 17

Notion that everyone has a sexuality are a fairly recent discourse

Question 18

what does sexuality allow us to do for Foucault?

Answer 18

occupy subject positions

Question 19

what questions does he highlight in regards to sexuality during his research? (2)

Answer 19

How do we come to know about our sexuality? What categories are available for us?

Question 20

how does Foucault believe individuals have power?

Answer 20

Power creates new objects of knowledge and acquires new bodies of information, which allows individuals to govern over eachother

Question 21

what does Foucault outline in Discipline and Punish?

Answer 21

from 1757 and the 1830s, torture was replaced by rules and regulations

Question 22

what did he call the new rules and regulations?

Answer 22

‘new disciplinary mode’

Question 23

why did he say the shift had occurred from torture to rules?

Answer 23

not to be more humane, but to give individuals powers to exclude and was more efficient by being impersonal

Question 24

who designed the Panopticon?

Answer 24

Bentham

Question 25

what was the Panopticon?

Answer 25

Only needs one guard in the middle, and they’re able to see into every cell

Question 26

what’s the point of the Panopticon?

Answer 26

the prisoners have no idea whether they are being watched, but the fear is enough

Question 27

how does Foucault see the Panopticon as representing society?

Answer 27

individuals police themselves and behave as if they are being observed

Question 28

where did queer theory emerge from? (2)

Answer 28

post-structuralism/gay and lesbian studies

Question 29

whose work does Butler expand on within Gender Trouble?

Answer 29

Foucault

Question 30

what does Butler argue within Gender Trouble?

Answer 30

Human subjects should be understood in terms of their social construction and therefore have no foundational essence or core

Question 31

How should gender be understood for Butler?

Answer 31

gender should be understood as a series of gendered acts, repetitions and rituals which are constructed by society

Question 32

How do subversive gender performances like drag lead to gender trouble?

Answer 32

they can challenge and expose the norms surrounding appropriate performances

Question 33

what is the heterosexual matrix?

Answer 33

proper men’ and ‘proper women’ are seen as heterosexual

Question 34

How can Butler’s ideas be criticised? (3)

Answer 34

• Too abstract? Fails to capture everyday lived experiences of those who transgress gender norms
• Needs to recognise the positive gains made by organised campaigns for rights and justice by questioning the category of women
• Represents gender and identity as something negative – are people as imprisoned by concepts and structures as queer theorists suggest?

Question 35

what can’t queer people do for Butler?

Answer 35

define an identity - only disturb one

Question 36

what do Atkinson and DePalma discuss within ‘Un-believing the matrix: queering consensual heteronormativity’?

Answer 36

how educational processes should try and tackle heteronormativity within the classroom

Question 37

what is the performative reinscription?

Answer 37

the discursive process by which the marginalised Other brings new meanings to normative identity constructions

Question 38

what is the heterosexual matrix to Atikinson and DePalma?

Answer 38

the conflation of sex-gender-sexuality which leads to the normalisation of heterosexuality

Question 39

how does heteronormativity operate for Atkinson and DePalma?

Answer 39

The heterosexual matrix is self-sustaining and self-replicating, that is, since we take it for granted, our actions can serve to perpetuate it’

Question 40

How do Atkinson and DePalma argue a child calling something ‘gay’ should be taken?

Answer 40

not treated as if it was an insult, but rather questioned