Performative Theory of Culture: Return to the Subject
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32461/2226-3209.4.2018.153009Keywords:
performative culture of theory, performative, performance, subject, corporeality, cultural practicesAbstract
The purpose of the article is to identify the essence and potential of performance theory of culture as an alternative to post-structuralism, regarding the creative possibilities of the subject. The methodology of the research is based on the use of cultural-genetic and structural-system methods for identifying the place of performative theory of culture among other humanitarian projects in general and performative studies in particular. The innovations consist in revealing the key principles of performative theory of culture within such concepts as “performative” and “performance”. Conclusions. Performative theory is an alternative to post-structuralism since it focuses on the creative possibilities of subject and its performative practices. In particular, performative theory analyzes practices, rather than representations of the subject in culture, whereby the active and constantly changing construction of reality is essential. The idea is that culture does not consist of representations, but presentations as productive practices. The potential of performative theory of culture in the analysis of performatives, which give its participants a special experience and function in the format of various performances – from religious to economic. Thus, performative theory of culture makes possible to understand the fundamental causes of culture as a practical environment of human existence.
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Alexander, J. C. (2004). Cultural Pragmatics: Social Performance Between Ritual and Strategy. Sociological Theory, № 22 (4), 527-573 [in English].
Alexander, J. C., Giesen, B., and Mast, J. L. (2006). Social Performance: Symbolic Action, Cultural Pragmatics, and Ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [in English].
Arendt, H. (1998). The Human Condition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press [in English].
Auslander, P. (1997). From Acting to Performance. New York: Routledge [in English].
Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist Performativity. Journal of Women in Culture and Society, № 28 (3), 801-831 [in English].
Berger, P. L. and Luckmann, T. (1991). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. – London: Penguin Books, 1991 [in English].
Bradley, Q. (2012). A ‘Performative’ Social Movement: The Emergence of Collective Contentions within Collaborative Governance. Space and Polity, № 2 (16), 215-232 [in English].
Butler, J. (1988). Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal, № 4 (40), 519-553[in English].
Butler, J. (1999). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge Press [in English].
Butler, J. (2015). Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015 [in English].
Connerton, P. (2009). How Societies Remember. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [in English].
Devetak, R. (2013). Postmodernism. In Theories of International Relations. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 161-188 [in English].
Domańska, E. (2007). ‘Zwrot performatywny’ we współczesnej humanistyce. Teksty Drugie, № 5, 48-61 [in Polish].
Foucault, M. (1975). Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la prison. Paris: Gallimard [in French].
Gibbons, M., Limoges, C. et al. (1994). The New Production of Knowledge. London: Sage [in English].
Goffman, E. (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh [in English].
Gond, J. P. and Cabantous, L. (2015). Performativity: Towards a Performative Turn in Organizational Studies. The Routledge Companion to Philosophy in Organization Studies. New York: Routledge, 508-516 [in English].
Huizinga, J. (2014). Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Eastford: Martino Fine Books [in English].
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social. An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press [in English].
Lloyd, M. (1999). Performative, Parody, Politics. Theory Culture & Society, № 16 (2), 195-213 [in English].
Lyotard, J.-F. (1984). The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press [in English].
McKenzie, J. (2004). Performative Studies. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press [In English].
Melrose, S. A Semiotics of the Dramatic Text. London: Routledge [in English].
Renn, J. (2014). Performative Kultur & Multiple Differenzierung. Bielefeld: Transcript [in German].
Suerbaum, A. and Gragnolati, M. (2010). Medieval Culture ‘Betwixt and Between’. An Introduction. In Aspects of the Performative in Medieval Culture. Berlin/New York: Hubert & Co, 1-15 [in English].
Schechner, R. (1985). Between Theatre and Anthropology. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press [in English].
Snow, P. (2010). Performing Society. Thesis Eleven, № 1 (103), 78-87 [in English].
States, B. O. (2007). The Phenomenological Attitude. In Critical Theory and Performance [Ed. by J. G. Reinelt and J. R. Roach]. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 26-37 [in English].
Turner, V. W. (1988). The Anthropology of Performance. New York: PAJ Publications [in English].
Usher, R. (2006). Lyotard’s Performance. Studies in Philosophy and Education, № 25, 279-288 [in English].
Wolf, M. A. (2017). “Performative Turn” in Translation Studies? Reflections From a Sociological Perspective, № 9.1, 27-44 [in English].
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