Abstract
In this paper I will focus on the concept of the person in its philosophical, representative and bodily facets, in a gender perspective. Starting from the interesting figure of Gianna Beretta Molla, known for having been beatified for having sacrificed her own life to save that of the child she was carrying, I’ll try to reason about some key concepts concerning women representation in modernity, such as motherhood, iconic figures and cultural models from which the meaning of feminine subjects itself depends.
Highlights
As part of the “gender oriented” perspective in which my work is positioned, it is interesting and necessary to question how and in what forms the concept of the person is constructed in its philosophical, representative and bodily facets.As subjects, we occupy certain discursive positions and present ourselves as complex subjects
According to Ugo Volli, “the ‘I’ is realized in the same way as a certain mode of production of discourse, with an exterior being separated from an interior throughcommunication; and [because] this idea of the way human beings are constituted is by no means natural or universal, but rather was progressively constituted in the West, through discourses and the formation of a philosophical, poetic, and religious order” [1: 71, my translation]
Are there frames within which we situate ourselves while constituting ourselves as subjects of communication, frames that we use to know how to be in the world? How do these possible external senders condition our existence as engendered subjects [2]? If we consider gender to be the set of social and cultural expectations that are built around individuals by virtue of their belonging to a specific biological sex, it is immediately clear how important it is to further investigate the way these expectations are generated, and fed and reinforced through cultural texts
Summary
As part of the “gender oriented” perspective in which my work is positioned, it is interesting and necessary to question how and in what forms the concept of the person is constructed in its philosophical, representative and bodily facets. The experience of the “I” depends on being inserted in certain communicative positions. In order to do so, to be inserted in a communicative position, the subject must be thought of as a specific individual with a certain identity as a person. If we consider gender to be the set of social and cultural expectations that are built around individuals by virtue of their belonging to a specific biological sex, it is immediately clear how important it is to further investigate the way these expectations are generated, and fed and reinforced through cultural texts Are there frames within which we situate ourselves while constituting ourselves as subjects of communication, frames that we use to know how to be in the world? How do these possible external senders condition our existence as engendered subjects [2]? If we consider gender to be the set of social and cultural expectations that are built around individuals by virtue of their belonging to a specific biological sex, it is immediately clear how important it is to further investigate the way these expectations are generated, and fed and reinforced through cultural texts
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