Epistemology: What do we know? How do we know it? How do we know we know it?
What is the Closet? Thinking of Sedgwick, she'd say that it'd depend on context. What is the closet for whom?
Coming out of the closet, you might feel that you understand yourself, and have explained yourself. You've now given yourself a voice to speak with, and you find there are countless others also with ideas about how to construct an identity. "They'll help you understand how it is with me. I'm in exactly the same predicament." (D.H. Lawrence, Collected Letters), speaking about James M. Barrie.
But just as Lawerence had a change of heart about Barrie, so might we look back at the closet and realize we had walked into a trap. Why was the closet there to begin with? Who built it? We're out of the closet, but where are we now? The closet is made by the dominant culture, the ones who control the mainstream discourse (a la Foucault). Coming out of the closet requires communicating that step in terms that aren't our own, but since we spoke those words, they become part of our identity.
I think this is part of the Queer lens that Sedgwick talks about. You have to consider the context of what was spoken, by who, to whom, and when.
What is the Closet? Thinking of Sedgwick, she'd say that it'd depend on context. What is the closet for whom?
Coming out of the closet, you might feel that you understand yourself, and have explained yourself. You've now given yourself a voice to speak with, and you find there are countless others also with ideas about how to construct an identity. "They'll help you understand how it is with me. I'm in exactly the same predicament." (D.H. Lawrence, Collected Letters), speaking about James M. Barrie.
But just as Lawerence had a change of heart about Barrie, so might we look back at the closet and realize we had walked into a trap. Why was the closet there to begin with? Who built it? We're out of the closet, but where are we now? The closet is made by the dominant culture, the ones who control the mainstream discourse (a la Foucault). Coming out of the closet requires communicating that step in terms that aren't our own, but since we spoke those words, they become part of our identity.
I think this is part of the Queer lens that Sedgwick talks about. You have to consider the context of what was spoken, by who, to whom, and when.
No comments:
Post a Comment