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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: October 13, 2004
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Latest Update: October 13, 2004
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
Deconstruction in a World of Constiutive Theory* * *
- Jacques Derrida's concept of deconstruction has contributed to the thinking of many social theorists and philosophers who have used deconstruction as a way out the box of norm-counternorm, linear thinking, on the way to trying to understand a multiperspective world in which there can be no pure "right" or "wrong."
- What single piece of information would you like people to come away with from this reading? Remember, one butterfly at a time.
- shared reading: a few pages from a text that you have read that you will share with us in a reading session. You should be sure to give us the full citation of the readings, an excerpt where we can get a flavor of the writing, and provide discussion questions and conceptual linking to the class with which you are sharing or to the discourse on Dear habermas with which you wish to share.
- template: a form for you to follow to help you prepare your shared reading.
- measures of learning: the measures you choose to demonstrate your learning for certification. Permitting you to choose your own measures insures transparency; there are no catches, no hidden barriers to jump.
- grading: certification to enter the job market or move up the career ladder
- Backup of Jacques Derrida, Abstruse Theorist, Dies at 74 By Jonathan Kandell. New York Times. October 11, 2004. Backup.
- Problematizing Robin Hood
- A definition of deconstruction? Put the peripheral values in the middle and move the core values to the periphery. In the process of deconstruction one must recognize the unstated assumptions (Martha Minow) on we have based our dominant discourse. By examining the unstated assumptions we are able to re-examine the social construction of our positions and see alternatives that often are more than simple opposites to our passionately held certainties.
Was Derrida influential in social theory?
- Without a doubt. Traditionalists didn't like him; they didn't like him a lot. He threatened their certainties. But many social theorists based their own theoretical work on deconstruction. One good example: Gayatri Spivakon colonialism and postcolonialism.
What would I like you to know about Derrida and deconstruction?
- That he made an impact on social theory through deconstruction, and that we could conceptually relate deconstruction to the unstated assumptions about most of our "certainties" and "truths."
Conceptual Linking to Substantive Courses:
- Agencies:
Sample linking: Deconstruction is one of the ways of getting past the trap of norm/counternorm thinking. It's like thinking out of the box. Might be a good way for agencies to explore the linear traps they've set up for themselves in their unstated assumptions about their practice.
- Criminal Justice:
Sample linking: Deconstruction would support a whole new way of looking at criminal justice from the perspective of the alleged perpetrator, the effects on the families of both victims and perpetrators, the role of communities in transforming some of the social constructions that get us in trouble, etc.
- Law:
Sample linking: Deconstruction would encourage self-reflection on the extent to which fear of loss of control, and fear of loss of privilege continue to operate in what we perceive as a neutral and objective system.
- Moot Court:
Sample linking: Moot Court is par excellence a forum in which to practice deconstruction. Seek out arguments that permit you to challenge the norm/counternorm trap.
- Women in Poverty:
Sample linking: In issues of gender and poverty I would consider setting out social constructs like bits of a jig saw puzzle and looking for different patterns that might emerge if we use deconstruction to reconfigure them.
- Race, Gender, Class:
Sample linking: I'd really like to create a movable sculpture with pieces we could move around like giant chess pieces and in the process reconstruct the cycle of poor school, ghettoized community, limited paths out, incarceration, out and back into the cycle of poverty and class and race.
- Religion:
Sample linking: It's especially important that we consider the deconstruction of our religious beliefs as we try to self-reflect and discover unstated assumptions that we sometimes convey to innocent others. We might want to think about the extreme fundamentalist concept of damnation to eternal hell fire.
- Love !A:
Sample linking: Love is about deconstructing our own self-involvement and certainty of truth to let another in, including God as Other here.
