“My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix- Performing Transgender Rage” – Susan Stryker PDF

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Heather K. Love...

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Midterm: October 17, 2018    

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Whole class period Analyze 5 out of 8 passages Passages will be identified (name and author) You should write a paragraph or two, in which you restate and explain the author’s claims; address the context of the passage, both in terms of this work as a whole and course themes; and note any particular important rhetorical or formal features The exam is designed to take 1 hour (10 minutes for each question, 10 minutes to check your work). This will allow extra time for set up and to show a film clip (one of the “passages”) Material covered through: October 10th

Cohen:        

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Marginalized subjects at the center of her analysis Domination is everywhere Politics based on power vs. identity The most marginalized groups must be addressed Criticism of the idea of focus on one hierarchy Systematic relationship between forms of domination – Pay attention to marginalized individuals Left politics – strategy; Left liberal politics, tolerance vs. transformation, acceptance vs. radical change o Build a new table vs. new members at the table Intersectionality and attention to marginality

D’Emilio:   

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Historical argument of gay identity formation Capitalism -> Gay identity Scapegoating of homosexuals o They are blamed for the destruction of the nuclear family o Gays and lesbians are the foundation for building affectional bonds outside of the family -> “chosen family” “gay leads the way” – connection with Gay Liberation Manifesto

Foucault:  

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Core idea of trajectory of history Genealogy analyzes history in a very different manner from linear history o “it could have been otherwise” o The way that history occurs is largely random Unforetold history Contingency of randomness -> accident Analyze every detail: the minute, the silent, the forgotten Historical destiny – history; those who win, write history Resist the story of the narrators of history – those who narrate history according to their record of victory

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History is material; beyond physics Storybook like o Difficult to read; different to read o Impossible number of variables Anything could have happened Question foundation – there is no solid ground

QUEERS READ THIS – Anonymous:     

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Definition of queer Public vs. private Question of rights Implicit critique of heterosexuality (heteronormativity) o “all spaces outside of gay bars” Pamphlet; context – manifesto tone; aggressive, forthcoming tone o Attempt to mobilize readers o Enrage audience – impassioned individuals Hyperbolic language Use of queer vs. gay What is queer? o Radical antinormativity o Rejection of the dominant culture – general queer language o Expansion of margins until margins encompass all things

“My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage” – Susan Stryker       

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How did that little Mormon boy from OK I used to be grow up… Performance, generic mixing, tone, address Monstrosity and identification with the outside and the illegible, with the fragmented and the unnatural Disidentification with human Reclaiming the negative but without purging it of negativity Necessary engagement with technoscience, but meaning and experience not exhausted by this frame Power of rage o Emotion can be used as a political tool o Account of first person rage Revaluing the idea of the “monster” without purging it of its negativity o Painful expression o The human category o Human community – the real monsters Story of the limits of scientific community/medical intervention Transsexuality’s engagement with medical history/techniques

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Difficulties of submission to medical science o How to thing not wholly negatively about medicine and science

Passages:    

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Social stigma, violence “how to harness the intense emotions emanating from transsexual experience…” “I want to lay claim to the dark power of my monstrous identity…” o Reverse discourse The strategy is NOT to say “I’m just like you” o Refusal of inclusion o Refusal of inclusion into the human category o Power in this realm beyond the human Rhetoric: difficult to read with no response o Power to invoke response o Who’s in the category of normal vs. marginalized Relational model of politics o Refusal to be identified as the outsider Reverse discourse strategy is useful in transsexuality She claims this idea of the trans “it” o Radical and counterintuitive o Analogous to D’Emilio  The margins become everything  Stop holding on to this superior personhood  Trans people claim “it” o Inversion of the inclusion argument  Strategy of explosion and refusal o Ruin the category of human, which will benefit all people Your gender is as fake as mine o Spoil the category of natural/nature o It’s better for everyone if normativity is thrown away We are made by doctors and surgeons, but that does not define who we are No denial as “someone made” o “operating tables of our rebirth” Rather than expunge or deny the stigma, use the stigma as the actual source of power Direct address, who is the addressee? o Community of creatures o Embrace rage/deny it o...