post-theory post
By Helen Varley Jamieson - 25/02/2008
my friend lynda thinks i'm a post-structuralist. my friend louise agrees. she's doing her PhD & lynda's had hers for ages & they've both known me for ages so i guess they should know. i looked up post-structuralism on wikipedia and discovered that most "post-structuralists" never actually claim the label for themselves - other people put it onto them. so perhaps it is true. perhaps i am post-structuralist.
but right now (as i try to reorient myself in academia-land after 2 months in other headspaces) i'm feeling decidedly post-everything; i don't want to be post-anything. i want to write about cyberformance, not post-structuralism, and i want to write about theatre, not theory.
is it possible to be post-theoretical?
Comments
theory slut post
i'm feeling somewhat better about Theory today, having dived in & wrestled with some sticky-out bits of it then stumbled on a nice gentle book called "theatre/theory - an introduction" by the very readable mark fortier. i'm simultaneously reading "critical theory & poststructuralism" by mark post-er (appropriate name for a post- theorist) but at the moment i'm stuck on: "For Sartre human beings were free because consciousness is a lack, an opening to the world that no object can determine." um - to je neizbezno! but it's ok because i've decided to follow lynda's lead & embrace being a theory slut (no doubt a poststructural concept) & use whatever makes sense & not worry too much about the rest. after all i only have 30,000 words which doesn't feel like much at all right now. h : ) ps - i even did this survey & it proved i am a theory slut ...RE:theory slut post
Hi Helen, This is what I got from that survey... "You are a Gender Nazi. Your boundary-crossing lifestyle inspires awe in your friends and colleagues. Or maybe they're just scared you will kick their asses for using gender-specific language." marcsluts & nazis
ha that's funny - but you're in good company. lynda the theory slut also found out she is a gender nazi! she will have to give her theory-slut t-shirt to me : )RE:sluts & nazis
Hi Helen, I think that I am probably a gender nazi, now that I have thought about it a little more... Good luck oon your 30,000 word PHD. It looks like that you've got a decent support network there to help you out through it all. marchow come everyone else knew ...
my friend dan just told me that he always knew i was a poststructuralist. i can't understand why nobody told me before when everyone is saying how obvious it is. i guess now that i've been outed i'd better embrace it ... or at least try to understand it ... btw marc it's a masters (mistress?) not a phd. i don't think you're allowed to do a phd until you're post-poststructural. i'd better wait until i'm a post-master before i contemplate that ... h ; )post-pedantic
louise and i have decided we're post-pedantic. of course this could change, as change is the only certainty in the post-pedantic manifesto.