Butler: 1990 - Gender Trouble
gender is different from sex
(they were radical at that time)
gender can be culturally reinforced (negative feedback loop)
framework of intelligibility: re-iterating using sophisticated vocabulary
being able to choose gender is one's desire
discourse: frame for producing knowledge, expressing experience
critical race theory: method thinking about foundational idea of culture
culture is constructed around race, and defined by race
resist "objectivity" + "neutrality" (because of statistical midpoint within each sub-set is biased compared to universal set)
the category of knowledge depends on race-established culture
John Searl's speech acts: speaking relationship, moral bond between speakers
instituted gender: ...
constituting identity as actor, illusion of belief
theatrical, anthropological, philosophical argument
Feminist view: distinguish sex and gender by "duty"
embodying: both conditioned by self and circumscribed by historical convention
personal struggle of women recognized as shared struggle
but reinforced idea still resistent to be changed
gender is deprecated, not predetermined structure
Proof: because one cannot generate reinforced act witout society's enforcement, gender performance is reinforced (p6)
My own thought: if freedom shall be forced, is it really freedom?
Heterosexual: reinforced (not necessary "natural")
People don't realize it is a performance
therefore punish who failed to perform
we should not punish who failed because it is not "natural"
False ontology: category as women
"Tropic Ana"
Ana's father - 180 years of confinement in Cuba's political prison (Bay of Pigs), joined back at Cedar Rapids
Operation Peter Pan: refugee -> orphanage
Racism: "go back to cuba, you whore"
University of Iowa, but give up painting (painting too weak)
"Rape Murder"
body is subject and object of work
after series of rapes on campus
colonized as object of male desire
"Sweating Blood"
video performance
block drips from forhead
decentralize dominant representation of male in TV
use of blood: Afro-Cuban religion, power or life force
"Blood Writing"
write "SHe GOT LOVE" using blood on gallery wall
sexual violence: verb "got" -> "She" is object of "love"
family issue addressed: violent in her sister's home let her divorce ("she" becomes object of maseculine aggression)
"Body Tracks"
living brush, use body to paint image
critiquing art world directed by men
Cuban ritual:
music: drumming, chants, melodies
newspaper: "two white robed women stood on a river bank, softly chanting as a third woman rubbed a chicken over her naked body, slaughtered it and threw it remains into the river's current"
objectification of "ethnic Others"
"Bird Transformation"
1: rubbed herself with blood, white feather as chicken
2: naked holding a sacrificial chichen
communicate pain of exile in ritual performance
ritual: expose cultural gap
denies monoton melting pot - everybody end up white
use of body: discuss sexual violence, make women's subjugation (to men) visible
Silueta Series: search for latino root
lay down in grave
flower grown out of body
"I was covered by time and history" (pain of exile, search for belonging)
documented: by photograph and film
result: mud prints of body
outdoor Santeria ritual: "monte adentro" ("going back to the roots")
"Incantacion a Olakun-Yemaya
gunpowder: draw outline of her body on ground, it it burns means answer to the question is "Yes", otherwise "No"
Black Venus: anti-slavery symbol (metaphore oppression of women and "ethnic Others")
elements of transformation (creation, destruction of nature): fire, river, oceans, ...
Rupestrian Sculpture Series:
use paint to outline carving -> cave painting
meaning: highlight cultural domination that destroyed Taino culture and belief (by Columbus)
Essentialist Feminism: female essence in body of women, female awakening. (mistaken for having patriarchal)
Opinion on feminist: "American feminism as it stands is basically a white middle class movement"
Table of Content