Butler's Theory Research Articles

Judith Butler's theories: reflections for nursing research and practice.

Judith Butler is one of the most influential late 20th and early 21st century philosophers in regard to left wing politics, as well as an active campaigner for social justice within the United States and worldwide. Her academic work has been foundational to the academic discipline of queer theory and has been extensively critiqued and applied across a hugely wide range of disciplines. In addition, Butler's work itself is extensive covering topics such as gender, sexuality, race, literary theory, and warfare. This article can only serve as a taster for the potential application of her work in relation to nursing, which is in its infancy. This introduction covers three of the potentially most productive themes in Butler's work, namely power, performativity, and ethics. Each of these themes are critically explored in turn, sometimes in relation to their actual application in nursing literature, but also in relation to their potential for producing novel critiques of nursing practice. Suggestions are made about how Butler's work can develop nursing research and practice. The article concludes with a short summary of Butler's key works as well as suggested reading for people interested in examining how her theories have been applied across different academic settings.

Action Research for Sustainable Cruise Tourism Development: the Black Sea Region Case Study

Tourism in general, and cruise tourism in particular, constitute an attractive developmental option for emerging, postcommunist, and/or postindustrial economies. Yet existing tourism-related literature on destination development focuses on rather generic theoretical concepts (e.g., Butler's Tourism Area Life Cycle, 6As, and Cluster Theory) coupled by an array of explorative case studies. From a policy-making perspective, bridging the gap between operationalizing generic theoretical/analytical frameworks while generalizing from a fragmented case study body of knowledge to plan meaningful action, represents a challenge. Within the context of an EU-funded cruise tourism development project for the Black Sea region, this article utilizes action research to meet this challenge and subsequently proposes complementary (to the analytical existing frameworks) organizational concepts and implementation guidelines. The aim here is to provide a more complete, applicable set of tools for destination development practitioners. Moreover, in terms of facilitating destination development, our research proposes a modified role for higher education institutions, which extends beyond merely that of a "labor supplier" to that of a driver for the "learning destination."

Geographies of emotion in university spaces: Sole parent postgraduate subjects negotiating ‘child-free’ educational boundaries

In this paper I explore the emotional geographies of Australian universities which tend to (re)produce higher education spaces as ‘child-free’. Drawing on Butler's theoretical tool of performativity and Ahmed's conceptual use of emotion, I seek to examine how educable sole parent students are constituted in university spaces largely prescribed as child-free. By examining some experiences of sole parent postgraduates, I aim to demonstrate some of the ways emotions work to reinscribe and regulate academic recognisability through boundary maintenance of university spatial arrangements. The sole parent postgraduate experiences I draw from in this paper illustrate that educational spaces are not passive; they are productive and regulatory. Speech acts that (re)produce university spaces as ‘child-free’ have particular implications for sole parent postgraduates who often experience un-relenting responsibilities of child-care. Sole parent postgraduates in this study shared their experiences of emotional bonds with their children as often in conflict with their sense of belonging and engagement with university spaces and practices. Butler's theory of performativity is useful to examine some of the ways the conflict between sole parent childcare and postgraduate education is experienced and the potential for productive manoeuvres by sole parents to disrupt and re-work the emotional geographies within Australian higher education spaces.

Teacher resistance to engage with ‘alternative’ perspectives of difficult histories: the limits and prospects of affective disruption

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses teacher resistance to recognizing some perspectives of difficult histories. The paper focuses on the following question: How does affect contribute not only to the formation of teacher resistance, but also to its disruption in ways that enable the productive reclaiming of teachers’ engagement with traumatic histories? To address this question, the paper first revisits the notion of difficult knowledge, highlighting its affective dimensions and its relevance to teacher resistance. Then, it argues that the role of affect in resistance demands a different way of conceptualizing ‘teacher resistance’ to acknowledge how affect is entangled with both the micro- and macro-political dimensions of resistance. In the light of this reconceptualized notion of teacher resistance, the paper theorizes the notion of ‘affective disruption’ by using Judith Butler's social theory. Finally, the notion of ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ is revisited to demonstrate the new openings created by a reconceptualized notion of teacher resistance in the context of teacher professional learning.

Samuel Butler’s Life and Habit and the Modernist Literary Character: Rethinking the Subject through the Everyday

The last decade has seen veritable resurgence of theme of in philosophical and critical debates. While for decades preference had been accorded to either active forces of will and desire or contingency and abruptness of Event, thinkers have recently come back to from different paths and perspectives (Bennett et al.; Sparrow and Hutchinson; Carlisle). The polarization of attention around theme of almost seems to mirror veritable explosion of discourse on which took place about two centuries ago. Even though philosophical reflection on can be traced at least as far back as Aristotle it was at end of eighteenth century and in early nineteenth century that theme of habit, as asserted in entry habitude of Encyclopedie Philosophique Universelle, became a new philosophical as an effect of the refusal of innate ideas; sensualist project deriving modes of understanding from experience (generally exterior experience); refusal, finally, of Hume's category of causality and its reduction to pure habit (1108; my translation). In France, was an extremely popular theme among spiritualist or proto-spiritualist philosophers such as Maine de Biran and Ravaisson, who considered it bridge between spirit and matter. In Germany, Hegel tackled problem of in The Philosophy of Right, making it basis of custom on which true ethical life is grounded. In Italy, reprehensible antisocial habits fell under magnifying glass of Turin positivist school and became pivotal part of Lombroso's analysis of criminal mind. In English speaking world, Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was probably most original contributor to debate on in second part of nineteenth century. He used notion of to challenge Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, conceiving as channel through which unconscious memory can be passed down from one generation to next, preserved in experience of species and its determination to evolve into more complex forms (see Willey). Samuel Butler's theories have been widely disregarded among professional philosophers, because of his idiosyncratic and counter-intuitive use of notion of and due to fact that his arguments have often been seen as amateurish. Nonetheless, several leading twentieth-century thinkers, such as Gregory Bateson and Gilles Deleuze, have repeatedly extolled visionary power of Butler's ideas and admitted their debts towards them. Moreover, Butler's theories of were influential among several modernist writers, such as H. G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Valery Larbaud, and E. M. Forster and they contributed both to these authors' understanding of crisis of modern subjectivity and to their attention for representation of habitual behavior and everyday. In this paper I intend to demonstrate how Butler's theory of habit--in particular as it is presented in his seminal work Life and Habit--once it is disentangled from anti-Darwinian debates on theory of evolution from which it first emerged, can offer considerable contribution to contemporary philosophical debate and allow better understanding of history of idea of at turn of century. Moreover, I intend to show how import of these ideas was promptly acknowledge by several modernist writers, who turned to Butler in an effort to investigate habitual side of life through their characters. In doing so, they were moved by belief that modern ethos, as well as modern idea of subjectivity, could find their proper mode of expression precisely in that previously neglected dimension of life. Butler's theory of stems from heated late nineteenth-century debate concerning Darwinism and theory of evolution. Charles Darwin's On Origin of Species (Willey 70 and ff.) had pivotal influence on Butler's life and thought, determining his abandonment of Christian faith and his conversion to agnosticism. …

'A vehicle of symbols and nothing more'. George Romanes, theory of mind, information, and Samuel Butler.

Today's 'theory of mind' (ToM) concept is rooted in the distinction of nineteenth-century philosopher William Clifford between 'objects' that can be directly perceived and 'ejects', such as the mind of another person, which are inferred from one's subjective knowledge of one's own mind. George Romanes, a founder with Charles Darwin of the discipline of comparative psychology, considered the minds of animals as ejects, an idea that could be generalized to 'society as eject' and, ultimately, 'the world as an eject' - mind in the universe. Yet, Romanes and Clifford only vaguely connected mind with the abstraction we call 'information', which needs 'a vehicle of symbols' - a material transporting medium. However, Samuel Butler was able to address, in informational terms depleted of theological trappings, both organic evolution and mind in the universe. This view harmonizes with insights arising from modern DNA research, the relative immortality of 'selfish' genes, and some startling recent developments in brain research.

Queering Girard—De-Freuding Butler: A Theoretical Encounter between Judith Butler’s Gender Performativity and René Girard’s Mimetic Theory

This article attempts to respond to the fractional presence of feminist discourse around Rene Girard’s theory of mimetic desire. I will first briefly examine the relevant critical stands on mimesis and then proceed to rehabilitate it for feminism via an analysis of Judith Butler’s theory of performative gender. By bringing together selected aspects of Girard and Butler’s work, it will be possible to build a constructive dialogue between the two thinkers. Due to the scope of the paper I will not be able to give an exhaustive account of the respective theories, and hence I will discuss only the most relevant aspects. Girard is concerned with giving an account of conflictual mimetic desire in social and cultural formation. I will follow a slightly different direction and concentrate on nonacquisitive, peaceful mimesis in identity formation, particularly with regard to gender. What is more, I will treat gender as a particular case of mimesis starting from an assumption that we perform gender as we perform mimesis. This will act as a kind of intellectual experiment that will allow me to explore the complexities of the relationship between gender and mimetic desire. The theories of Butler and Girard can be productively read together to explore new ways of thinking about gender. I will show that the “failure” in mimesis—that is, the constant approximation to the perfect imitation—guarantees unrestricted differentiation in gender, for which Butler argues. This combination of Girard and Butler aims to open up Girardian theory to exchanges with feminism and queer and transgender studies. In the second part of this article I will present a case study featuring Sigmund Freud’s masculine “little girl.” There I will demonstrate how a Girardian reading solves theoretical problems that both Freud and Butler encounter in interpreting this masculine “little girl.” I will argue that Girard’s theory of mimesis offers Butler new possibilities for thinking about gender and identification. My claim will be that the psychoanalytical framework that Butler draws upon is the cause of theoretical impasses that she encounters and that Girard’s theory allows for overcoming these deadlocks.

Getting under performance's skin: epigenetics and gender performativity

This article offers a re-examination of Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity (as described in her influential 1990 work Gender Trouble) in the light of recent epigenetic discoveries. Epigenetics is the study of molecular mechanisms that modify the manner in which DNA sequences are expressed while leaving the sequence itself intact. These processes can be influenced by environmental factors, demonstrating how our environment can affect us at the cellular level with important consequences for the ways in which we think about behaviour, gender and identity. Through an exploration of a range of scientific papers (in conjunction with an epigenetic reading of Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues), this article asks if epigenetics could provide a mechanism through which gender performance achieves some degree of biological embodiment. Although current research can offer a basis for some interesting speculation, it is also clear that such a question cannot yet be answered. Fortunately, new lines of investigation could one day provide us with a clearer idea of the relationship between gender performance and epigenetics.

Construction of hegemonic masculinity: Violence against wives in Bangladesh

Synopsis This study uses newspaper data to examine how violent men of Bangladesh validate their identity as men through their acts of violence. Prior research on violence against women in Bangladesh was based on economically disadvantaged wives in rural areas or megacities. Systematic applications of Butler's (1990) gender performativity theory and Connell's (1995) hegemonic masculinity idea to empirical data on violence against women in Bangladesh are rare. By applying these frameworks, I find that in a society that promotes violence against women violent men can use such acts as the most honorable way of being men. I explain that hegemonic gender norms relate to wife abuse, and suggest that the intersection of gender and age has seemingly had profound effects on violence against women, independent of other structural inequalities.

Optimizing Well Trajectories in Steam-Assisted-Gravity-Drainage Reservoir Development

Summary An important task before starting a steam-assisted-gravity-drainage operation is optimizing the location of the well trajectories. There are shale barriers and other heterogeneous features at different positions in these reservoirs. Steam cannot pass a thick shale barrier. Also, if there is a shale barrier between the injector and producer, oil cannot drain to the producer. For these reasons, optimizing the injector- and producer-well trajectories is important. Running the reservoir simulator is time-consuming, and running trial-and-error cases to optimize the producer and injector trajectories is not practical. On the other hand, robust well-trajectory optimization must consider uncertainty in the reservoir parameters. This optimization problem cannot be solved by calling the simulator for many possible trajectories and geostatistical realizations. To tackle this problem, a new semianalytical approximate thermal simulator modeled after Butler's theory (a proxy) has been developed and tested on different synthetic and realistic history-matched 2D and 3D models (Dehdari and Deutsch 2013; Dehdari 2014). Many modifications, extensions, and improvements have been made to Butler's original model. This proxy can be used as a substitute to the reservoir simulator. In this paper, two methods are tested for well-trajectory optimization. The first method is based on random sampling from a 3D box that has been selected for drilling wells. Then, the differential-evolution-optimization algorithm has been used for automatically improving the trajectory location. The second method is based on parameterizing the trajectory by use of a Hermite spline, then optimizing the parameters of the spline. The producer and injector trajectories of a realistic model with a single realization and a synthetic model with 100 realizations have been optimized by use of these methods.

Masculine Spatial Embodiment in Dracula

This article probes the extent to which selected male characters in Bram Stoker's Dracula ([1897] 1998. Oxford: Oxford University Press) undergo a slippage in gender and become metaphorically feminized under conditions of architectural confinement. Strikingly, in Dracula, Stoker subverts the conventional Gothic ploy of feminine imprisonment and, rather, explores the notion of masculine captivity within enclosing spaces.This is evident when Renfield, Jonathan Harker and Count Dracula are respectively confined within the asylum, Castle Dracula and the hospital, and the coffin. Under these spatial conditions, the male characters’ body spaces are altered and become connected with the social constructs ascribed to and superimposed upon the female body. These mutating body spaces will be scrutinized through a deployment of Judith Butler's theory of gender performance, which posits that gender is merely a repeated performance of socially fashioned norms ([1990] 1999. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge). The objective is to indicate the extent to which the novel's apparent investigation of male gender fluidity within spatial confinement appears to offer confirmation of Butler's assertion regarding gender's performative nature.The purpose of this article is not to posit that space dictates gender performance in the novel, but rather that enclosing architectural spaces seem to facilitate Stoker's male characters in their adoption of qualities traditionally associated with femininity.

A Study of Gender in Virginia Woolf'sMrs. Dalloway

The present essay draws attention to Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity and the formation of subjectivity through the process of becoming in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. By concentrating on Clarissa's androgynous and bisexual gender identity, Woolf not only challenges the penetrating assumptions about masculine/feminine distinction that institutes the heterosexualization of desire, but also uproots the fixation of gender identity. Butler believes that Gender as a social construct is produced by repeated performative acts and in order to renew and reformulate gender it is possible to change the existing attributes that are now strongly associated with the sexes. Clarissa, the main character in the novel, both submits to the heterosexual values and challenges this system by representing bisexual and androgynous traits.

Recognition and accountability: sole parent postgraduates in university conditions

This paper aims to examine some of ways sole parents sought recognition as postgraduate students in Australian universities. Judith Butler's theory of recognition notes that recognition is always partial and any account we give of ourselves must be given to another. Participants articulated that supervisors were critical in the process of recognition; without recognition from an academic supervisor, postgraduates are unrecognisable and are unable to account for themselves. University timetabling often conflicted with sole parenting responsibilities, academic conference attendance and expectations of academic publications were understood as problematic factors in recognisability for sole parent postgraduates. Problematic supervisory relations, restricted access to academic classes or seminars and limited access to academic conferences exacerbated sole parent isolation and influenced their recognisability as sole parent postgraduates.

Obscene performative pornography: R v Peacock (2012) and the legal construction of same-sex and gendered identities in the United Kingdom

How are the concepts of obscenity and extreme pornography ‘produced’ and by whom? The failed prosecution in R v Peacock (2012) revealed English law to be based on attempts to protect public and individual morality – ensuring that people do not become ‘depraved and corrupted’ by the pornography they see and hear. The Obscene Publications Acts 1959 and 1964, and the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, figure criminality upon normalized notions of ‘appropriate’ pornography and ‘appropriate’ sexual expression. A Foucaultian analysis would suggest that in regulating pornography and obscenity through the lens of morality, it is the law itself that produces and creates these concepts and hence the perpetuation of ideas of ‘acceptable’ identity expression. Using Michel Foucault's ideas on ‘truth’ and ‘knowledge’ and Judith Butler's theories of performativity, this article suggests that the decision to prosecute Peacock was, in and of itself, an act of production, creation and ‘performativity’ that contributes to the ‘regime of truth’ about pornography and obscenity.

An Imperfect Butlerite Aging and Embodiment in Back to Methuselah

ABSTRACT: This article traces Shaw's modifications of Samuel Butler's evolutionary theory, demonstrating that Shaw diverged significantly from the thinking of the author he credited as his inspiration. The difference between Shaw and Butler emerges from opposed understandings of the role of embodiment—a condition that Shaw's play cycle Back to Methuselah seeks to transcend altogether.

PENGEMBANGAN POTENSI DAYA TARIK WISATA PULAU ATAURO DI DISTRIK DILI, TIMOR-LESTE

The island of Atauro is a tourist destination located in Dili District of East Timor.The island has big potential for tourist attractions that deserves to be further developed to be tourist destinations. This study aims to investigate the potential tourist attractions, the internal and external environmental conditions as well as to formulate strategies and programs for sustainable tourism development. This study used IFAS (Internal Factor Analysis System) and EFAS (External Factor Analysis System) are used. This study applies planning theory, tourism area life cycle by Butler, planning and Participation Theory. Data are collected through observation, interviews, and questionnaires.The results showed that there is potential to further develop some tourist attractions in Atauro to be sustainable tourism. Unspoiled natural view, underwater panoramic, extended coral-reef with varieties of fishes, forest with various birds, unique social and cultural life are some of the potential areas for development. The analysis on internal and external environment showed that Atauro is categorized into cell I Grow and Development (the concentration is via vertical integration). The potential for tourism in Atauro Island mainly lays in marine, culture, beaches, history, biking, spring water, seaweed cultivation, cave, spirituality, and sightseeing adventure. The strongest factor of internal environmental condition is the panoramic view, while the weakest factor is the inadequate facilities and infrastructure.

PEMANFAATAN BANGUNAN BERSEJARAH SEBAGAI WISATA WARISAN BUDAYA DI KOTA MAKASSAR

Colonial period in Indonesia bequeathed a number of buildings such as schools, bank and offices. The buildings have nuance of Dutch architecture, therefore becoming cultural heritages and tourist attractions. The Aim of this research is to find out the historical buildings utilization in Makassar city, South Sulawesi Province, however in this research selected three bulidings which developed as heritage tourism, namely Fort Rotterdam, Museum Kota dan Gedung Kesenian Makassar. The three historical buildings selected as research location because of the physical potency is building architecture which completed with non physical potency is historical and cultural value. This research applied tourist attraction management, tourism area life cycle by Butler and tourism marketing theory to find out evolution life cycle of each buildings then arrange the effective strategy to develop Fort Rotterdam, Museum Kota and Gedung Kesenian as heritage tourism in Makassar city.The article argues that the utilization of Fort Rotterdam as a tourist attraction is classified into development phase. Fort Rotterdam has been renovated several times by developing La Galigo Museum inside to increase the attractiveness. Local government has also a lot of promotions. Museum Kota and Gedung Kesenian Makassar are classified into exploration phase since the two historical buildings need physical improvement, structuring showroom and facilities to handle collections of Museum Kota and the assurance of building management and maintenance of Gedung Kesenian. Based on the result of the research Fort Rotterdam, Museum Kota dan Gedung Kesenian Makassar do not only have physical potency of building and historical value but also to become interesting tourist attraction which need improvement by maintaining architecture identity as much as possible, providing supporting facilities needed by tourists and increasing promotion by local government.

White Skin and White Masquerades: The Performativity of “Whiteness” at Trinity College

Trinity College has gained a reputation as a predominantly white elite institution over its years at the University of Toronto. Using both personal accounts from a member of the college, as well as participant observation based on three months of research, this essay attempts to understand how the college maintains its legacy as a white institution despite its existence in a supposedly multicultural university environment. Drawing upon Judith Butler's theory of performativity, the essay describes how "whiteness" is constructed through a reiteration of acts rather than on race or colour in the context of Trinity College.

‘Acceptance of the limits of knowability in oneself and others’: performative politics and relational ethics in the primary school classroom

This paper takes up Judith Butler's calls to suspend the desire to completely know the other, and discusses these in relation to the pedagogic relationship in the classroom. It draws upon existing accounts of performative reinscription as a politics to disrupt exclusionary schooling practices and discusses these alongside Butler's theories of relationality. In so doing, it argues that the pedagogic relationship is the space within which performative reinscription occurs and which holds the potential for more ethical encounters between self and other. Acknowledging the impossibility of completely knowing the other is not an easy position to hold in the institution of the primary school, where policies and practices are based on the concept of rational, knowing subjects. However, this paper suggests that suspending the desire for the other to provide a coherent account of themselves has important implications for performative politics in the primary school classroom.

Change agency as performance and embeddedness: Exploring the possibilities and limits of Butler and Bourdieu

In this paper, we explore the dual role of human agency in maintaining the status quo and generating change. Judith Butler and Pierre Bourdieu offer differing conceptions of change agency in relation to organization and transformation of gender relations. Focusing on how those approaches would work, we analyse an empirical case study on a particular change process: getting women the right to vote in the Swiss cantons of Appenzell. We contribute to the current use of Butler's and Bourdieu's theories in organization studies in three main ways. First, we explore stability and change from the lenses of these two scholars. Second, we illustrate how change agency looks from these two distinct perspectives. Finally, we offer an empirical analysis that identifies the main elements of change agency in the two frameworks and discuss the possibilities and limitations of bringing these two approaches together to better understand change agency.