uncapturable by discourse
"...a body is shaped and endowed with significance by virtue of the historical discourses through which it is formed. It’s true that we name the body differently depending on what discourse we use, depending on what language we speak, what purpose we want that body to serve or what social significance it may have.​
Perhaps what we call the body’s materiality is what constantly escapes, whatever name we might give it. There is no one name for the body. So whatever the body is, it is never captured by any name.​
UNCAPTURABLE BY DISCOURSE is a way of saying that no matter how adamant we are in our claims to know, size, verify, and produce the material body, we are bound up in a discourse that cannot claim to be the only way to understand what a body is, what a sexed body is, and how it means…”
​
*Judith Butler’s conference entitled
“Why Bodies Matter”
on June 2nd 2015
