Post 2: Performativity!

From performance to performativity and back!

Some mind-bending stuff this week, no?

We read about a performative act as an expression that does or accomplishes something beyond describing or referring to something else.

We read about how performative utterances aren't true or false but felicitous or infelicitous--they work or they don't work based on the context, the person uttering it, etc.

We read, finally, about how performative acts--the conscious and unconscious habits and actions we do every day--can help to create a sense of self, a sense of gender, a sense of identity. From "It's a girl! Let's buy pink" to "Ladies don't sit like that" to "You make me feel like a natural woman"--our sense of who we are (masculine, feminine, queer, straight, bi, trans-, cis-, Methodist, Hindu, Atheist, Vegan, ginger, whatever) comes from a lifetime of repeated acts that performatively consolidate a sense of gender identity and sexuality.

But, Butler says, if identity is based on performances, then that opens the possibility that we may perform differently than expected. We can change or alter (or, to use the verb form, we can queer) performative acts in ways that undermine or subvert how they're "supposed" to be performed. She links this performing-differently to performances of citizenship, such as the instance of protesters singing the USAmerican national anthem in Spanish.

For this week's post, I want you to describe or link to an example of someone tweaking a performative act or utterance to mean/do something other than it's originally supposed to. If I pledge allegiance to the American flag, that's one thing (I pledge allegiance by reciting the words, "I pledge allegiance..."). If I recite that pledge, however, as I salute--say--the flag of the evil Galactic Empire from Star Wars--then I'm doing something else, perhaps suggesting that the U.S. is like the Galactic Empire (note: I'm just using an example here, not actually making that suggestion. I could just as easily use the flag of Equestria from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic).

Something similar happens if I tweak (queer?) a famously patriotic action captured in art, like Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (as the pics I've included here do). Note how these tweaks could be taken in a number of ways: funny, clever, disrespectful, or offensive.

Aside from your standard "reflect/discuss stuff from this week," give me the example of a performative act/utterance intentionally performed to mean something else. Then explain your example. Reflect on if/how that intentional misperformance could be interpreted in contradictory ways.

Post by Tuesday.

See y'all in class!

JF