A seriously closing note re feminism, and the rest of it.
chuffedlittlemuffin:wannablessedbe:
(SEVERE PRETENTIOUSNESS WARNING)
I hereby declare that after this post I’m not going to be answering any more of these posts, no matter how much I may want to. I wanted to say this outright because I wanted to be clear that I am making an active decision independent of the merits of any further discussion - and I am not cutting this off because I feel “done” on the subject or because I feel I have nothing more to learn. I just need to step away from this discussion and read and think for a little while before I say anything further. And also be in the world, because I’m wandering so far into abstraction in this discussion I feel like I’ve lost my way out of reality.
I realize this was entertaining for onlookers and seriously annoying for others. For me, it was deeply frustrating and challenging, as I guess all good conversations should be. I’m irritated by the assumptions that people must be making about me even though I have only myself to blame, because if I am unclear I am unclear, I suppose. And I guess I’m tired of being a sideshow.
One thing: Chuffed and igather, I remain more or less skeptical of this skepticism of coherence of thought - not least because even that skepticism implies a coherent commitment to be skeptical, and so doesn’t even come close to abiding by its own terms. Which, I imagine, you’ll answer by saying “see, that’s more incoherence!” and then, it seems to me, we are stepping into a tactic of winning every argument in advance by simply claiming that there are no commitments worth making irreversibly, and that?
I don’t know. It strikes me as circular. It strikes me as every bit as closed a way of being as any other. It doesn’t strike me as unqualifiedly committed to liberation and empathy, either, and however totalizing it may be to conceive of the world that way I’m not ready to let go of liberation and empathy yet. I’m not saying that either of you aren’t committed to this either, but that if you weren’t, your philosophy/approach leaves me with no way to convince you that liberation and empathy are things worth pursuing. That’s what worries me about this, in a nutshell. Make of that what you will.
I’ll try to keep it brief and just say that I think that I was more trying to get at my disaffection with trying to have a theory that covers everything or that is totalizing but rather being open to thinking that maybe this theory isn’t the best way to explain this or isn’t the most effective in this situation, as viewing it as partial and contextual. I mean, I also think that everyone’s theories stabilize some things in their quest to destabilize others and that critique is often the work of pointing out what theorist X stabilized and then destabilizing that or whatever. And like igather said, stabilization or coherence is an effect of power too, and I think this works both at the level of subjectivity and the more meta theoretical level. And, precisely because it is an effect of power or rather can be used to grant one a semblance of power, it does make sense sometimes to try and claim some form of coherence or stable ground to stand on, so I don’t want to say it’s all bad.
Talk about getting into abstraction; I don’t know if anyone will be able to make any sense of that but me, which is not the kind of incoherence I celebrate. But at this point it is what it is. Sorry.
I’ll piggyback here. I think this is all a mix of theoretical stuff and personal stuff for me. and the theoretical stuff is a conversation you have to have with someone who has read the theory. But at the same time the theoretical stuff is rooted in materiality- it comes from somewhere real, rooted in real conditions and experiences. That means where and who the theory comes from does matter- the history of its production is linked to its analysis. It’s a living thing. Even though WBB is not going to respond I hope you get that this isn’t personal nor is it about you or your feminism or your personal commitment to either social justice or ending sexism, (it’s easier to get angry on the internet and harder to listen- and I was guilty of some of that) but this is in effect what feminism or coalitional allies are supposed to do. Stand where you stand and announce yourself.
For me I will say this, I am tired of feeling forced to walk between the poles of cultural nationalism and western imperialism. That the middle doesn’t exist or if it does it is just considered lonely wasteland. Of being either considered confused or collaborator, betrayer or denier, this thing or that thing but never anything in my own words. I’m tired of those poles existing and feeding off each other and from that toxic relationship spewing out economic inequality,(base first dontcha know) sexism, homophobia, racism, imperialism, wars, hate, all bricks in the arbitrary borders that strangle…..and so when I find something- theories, a community, friends, politics that honour that- that are committed to erasing those polarities, not in favour even of a continuum but of a different form all together then there is really no choice but to be committed to that.
I want to add that what Chuffed is saying is the number one thing I think that post-modernism has left us. There are no grand unifying theories, there is no complete analysis. Everything is bits and pieces and remixed together to serve a purpose.