Post Structuralism

Post-structural Cultural Theory

discourse: “practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak.” foucault

inter-textuality -  no single point of original; all things can be considered as text

discursive practices - 

textual communities - Interpretative views of "texts"

episteme the body of ideas that determine the knowledge that is intellectually certain at any particular time

discursive formation

discursive fields

contestation

transformation

“archaeology” : 

“genealogy” : Power in interpretative communities

normalisation : presenting one view as the "real one" social processes through which ideas and actions come to be seen as "normal" and become taken-for-granted or 'natural' in everyday life.
normalization was one of an ensemble of tactics for exerting the maximum social control with the minimum expenditure of force, 

inter-discursivity

disciplinary power

heterotopia

deconstruction: Deconstruction exposes the way in which we must have both sides of the dichotomy (such as writing and speech, or male and female) in order to have the privileged side

destabilise

the metaphysics of presence

logocentrism

phonocentrism

absence

chain of signification

différance

trace

play of signification

fragmentation

Session 7

What is Post-Structuralism and How Does It Differ from Structuralism?

1) Post-structuralism is both an extension and a critique of the fundamental concepts of structuralism rather than a theory in its own right.

2) Post-structuralism moves beyond the study of linguistics (or language as a system) and is concerned with philosophical issues such as the nature of "truth" and conceptions of the individual.

3) While structuralists conceive of the "subject" as the socially determined centre of consciousness, post-structuralists "de-centre" the subject by claiming that "the self" is constituted through signifying practices situated within social discourse.

4) While structuralists maintain that a sign is a stable, unified entity whose meaning is ultimately discoverable, post-structuralists argue that language is always fluid and meaning can never be recovered completely.

5) For post-structuralists, there is no absolute authority for knowledge or "truth"; there is only interpretation which produces meaning by the interaction of a reader with a text.

6) Since language is the ultimate source of meaning, then all claims to "truth" are treated as products of discursive struggles for power.

7) Post-structuralists search for contradictions and multiple meanings in a text or aim to expose the power relations within language, discourse and representation.

 Session 7

Deconstruction

1) Notice what a text takes to be natural, self-evident, original, or worthy of pursuit or emulation.

2) Notice those places where a text is most insistent that there is a firm and fast distinction between two things.

3) Show how something represented as primary, complete and original is actually derived and/or the effect of something else.

4) Show how something represented as completely different from something else only exists by defining itself against that something else; show how it depends on that thing.

Session 7

Discourse Analysis

1) The focus of discourse analysis should be local points of power rather than centralized forms to show how power functions daily through normalized techniques and procedures.

2) Analysis should focus on the material or practical effects of power rather than a search for its origins.

3) Power should be analyzed as operating independently of particular persons; individuals are only the conduits through which power moves.

4) Studies should portray power as ascending from the lowest levels of society (the family, schools, etc.) rather than descending from above.

5) Power should not be treated as ideology, but instead as the rules and instruments that produce what is accepted as "truth".