Derrida and Deconstruction

Deconstruction 

Jacques Derrida was an Algerian-born French philosopher best known for developing a form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction, which he analyzed in numerous texts, and developed in the context of phenomenology. He is one of the major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy.

Deconstruction is a way of understanding how something was created, usually things like art, books, poems and other writing. Deconstruction is breaking something down into smaller parts. Deconstruction looks at the smaller parts that were used to create an object. (For example Book when we are reading a book at younger age at that time our understanding of meanings is less an same book we read after five years our knowledge increased and we can understand something more because thinking process has been increased so it gets changed. )

So in short their is no fixed meaning it changes as per time is called deconstruction.

Deconstruction of advertisement.

As we can see in India we have patriarchal society.  In which everything is controlled under men and women has to do household chore. In this ad we can deconstruct that male and female both are working and sharing their work equally their is no gender bias and even their is a stereotype that only women washes the clothes and even has to do household chores but in this ad even her husband is washing clothes because after whole day of office work and household chores she tired so her husband helped her in washing the clothes . So in this ad they are trying to break stereotype that each and every household chores are equally important for both male and female. 

Derrida and Deconstruction: Flipped Learning task

Derrida and Deconstruction: Flipped Learning task 

https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2016/01/flipped-learning-network.html

Jacques Derrida was an Algerian-born French philosopher best known for developing a form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction, which he analyzed in numerous texts, and developed in the context of phenomenology. He is one of the major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy.

                        Video 1

  1. Why is it difficult to define                 Deconstruction?

Derrida questions - is it possible to define?

Derrida questions - what are the limits or to what extent one can define something?

Derrida refuses to define Deconstruction

Because we are habituated for clear cut definitions, we want definition, whereas it is not possible to define Deconstruction.

2. Is Deconstruction a negative term?

It's not exactly a negative term. In fact it is not a negative term. Actually, Derrida is inquiring in to the condition or what causes philosophical system or meaning to stand up on its own and fall down. He is inquiring into the foundation.No, for Derrida it is not destructive activity but an inquiry into the foundations. It may happen that in the process, it destroys itself.Actually, it is not a negative term. Derrida wanted to transform the way people think.

3.How does Deconstruction happen on its own?

In a sense that the conditions which give 'meaning' to the system, that very conditions put a limit to it. So, when the foundations of meanings are inquired, it breakfree the limitations. Thus, an inquiry into foundations destroys the institution. So we can say that deconstruction happens on its own.

                     Video 2

1.The influence of Heidegger on Derrida.

Derrida himself in the famous "Letter to a Japanese Friend" (1983) pointed out that the term was a product of his wish, “to translate and adapt to my own ends the Heidggerian word Destruktion or Abbau. Each signified in this context an operation bearing on the structure or traditional architecture of the fundamental concepts of ontology or of Western metaphysics”.So this the influence of Heidegger on Derrida.

2.Derridean rethinking of the foundations of Western philosophy.

Heideggar wanted to 'dismantle' entire tradition of Western philosophy by pursuing the question of being of beings. So derridean rethinking of the foundations of Western philosophy. 

                     Video 3

1.Ferdinand de Saussureian concept of language (that meaning is arbitrary, relational, constitutive).

The idea that what connects the word with its meaning is not natural - or the signal with its meaning is the conventional and is always social.

2.How Derrida deconstructs the idea of arbitrariness?

Meaning of the word is nothing but another word. One never arrives at meaning. It is just moving from one word to another. This how Derrida deconstructs the idea of arbitrariness.

3.Concept of metaphysics of presence.

Metaphysics of Presence is of binary opposition inherent in language and thus in philosophy binary opposition. 

Example Man - Woman; Light - Dark; White - Black, Good - Evil .

Differentiate the meaning of one from the other in terms of one 'lacking' something. So, Dark is the one that lacks Light; woman is something that lacks Manliness etc.This lacking - the absence of something puts that things in inferior position in comparison to the one which have it - the presence of something.Thus, binary oppositions privileges one over the other.Derrida points out that these oppositions are not equal but hierarchic where the second term is considered either derivative or inferior to the first, the privileged one.

                       Video 4

1.Derridean concept of DifferAnce.

DifferAnce means its a force which makes differentiation possible , which makes postponing possible.By coining a word which is not different in 'speech' but is differently 'written' / spelt, what does Derrida tries to draw an attention towards privileging of speech over writing.

2.Infinite play of meaning.

There no specific meaning it keeps on changing. One word has many meaning. For example interest which is given video it gives us many meaning like attraction, money etc. So this is known as infinite play of meaning. 

3.DIfferAnce = to differ + to defer.

Difference as we differentiate a word from another to understand its meaning. We do not define, actually, we differentiate.

Deference because the meaning is postponed - meaning is adjourned, put back.

It is difference + Deference. Derrida combines both word and coins a new word.

                        Video 5

1.Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences.

Structure Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences essay which was read at the colloquium on 'Structuralism' at John Hopkins University .The essay was a critique of Claude Levi-Strauss - Structural Anthropology.

2.Explain: "Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique."

Structuralism began as the critique of the assumption science as well as metaphysics. On the other hand it uses similar assumptions.The centre is, paradoxically, within the structure and outside it the totality 'has its centre elsewhere'. The centre is not the centre.The ultimate meaning is never grasped.The finality is impossible as the one who critiques something uses same language. So it is trapped in the interplay and free play of meaning.The lack in the language the missing.It can be done only through language. 

                      Video 6

1.The Yale School: the hub of the practitioners of Deconstruction in the literary theories.

During the 1970s, the Yale School has been a hub of the practitioners of deconstruction in literary theories. Four 'hermeneutic mafias' of Yale University who propagated thought of Derrida worldwide are Paul de Man,J Hillis Miller,Harold Bloom,Geoffrey Hartman. 

2.The characteristics of the Yale School of Deconstruction.

Important characteristics of Yale School of Deconstruction are looking at literature as figurative or rhetorical construct.They questioned both the aesthetic as well as formalist approach to literature and also questioned the historicist and sociologist approach to literature.They were highly pre-occupied with Romanticism.

                      Video 7

How other schools like New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, Feminism, Marxism and Postcolonial theorists used Deconstruction?

Postcolonial theorists ability to show that the texts or the discourse of the colonizers can be deconstructed from within the narrative.

Feminist theorists deals with how to subvert the binaries between male and female. By its ability to subvert patriarchal discourse.

New Historicists its ability to see historicity of text and textuality of history. History is textual and text is historical.

Cultural Materialists its ability to emphasize materiality of language - Language is material construct and it has got ability to unmask hidden ideological agendas.

   

wide Sargasso Sea

Hello! everyone this blog task is part of our studies given by Yesha ma'a. 

Wide Sargasso Sea 

Jean Rhys 

Jean Rhys, born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a British novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she was mainly resident in England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.In 1978, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her writing.

she wrote nothing until her remarkably successful Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), a novel that reconstructed the earlier life of the fictional character Antoinette Cosway, who was Mr. Rochester’s mad first wife in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Tigers Are Better-Looking, with a Selection from the Left Bank (1968) and Sleep It Off Lady (1976), both short-story collections, followed. Smile Please, an unfinished autobiography, was published in 1979.

Wide Sargasso Sea 

Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 novel by Dominican-British author Jean Rhys. The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress. Antoinette Cosway is Rhys's version of Brontë's devilish "madwoman in the attic". Antoinette's story is told from the time of her youth in Jamaica, to her unhappy marriage to an English gentleman, Mr. Rochester, who renames her Bertha, declares her mad, takes her to England, and isolates her from the rest of the world in his mansion. Antoinette is caught in a patriarchal society in which she fully belongs neither to Europe nor to Jamaica. Wide Sargasso Sea explores the power of relationships between men and women and discusses the themes of race, Caribbean history, and assimilation.

Characters

Antoinette 

 Annette 

 Rochester  

Christophine 

 Mr. Mason 

 Aunt Cora 

Alexander Cosway 

 Amelie

Sandi Cosway

Daniel Cosway 

Richard Mason

"Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys as a postcolonial response to "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte.

The two books Jane Eyre’s novel by Charlotte Brontë and Wide Sargasso Sea Novel by Jean Rhys, reveal various motifs including the concepts of feminism and postcolonialism. Wide Sargasso Sea is both a response and a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, set in the West Indies and imagining the lives of Bertha Mason and her family. 

Wide Sargasso Sea is one of the best-known literary postcolonial replies to the writing of Charlotte Bronte and a brilliant deconstruction of what is known as the author's "worlding" in Jane Eyre. The novel written by Jean Rhys tells the story of Jane Eyre's protagonist, Edward Rochester. The plot takes place in West Indies where Rochester met his first wife, Bertha Antoinette Mason. Wide Sargasso Sea is prequel of Jane Eyre novel . The heroine in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette Cosway, is created out of demonic and bestialic Bertha Mason from Jane Eyre. Rhys's great achievement in her re-writing of the Bronte's text is her creation of a double to the madwoman from Jane Eyre. The heroine of Wide Sargasso Sea, the beautiful Antoinette Cosway, heiress of the post-emancipation fortune and was connected in  relationship with  Bertha Mason. The author transforms the first Mrs Rochester into an individual figure whose madness is caused by imperialistic and patriarchal oppression The vision of Bertha/Antoinette as an insane offspring from a family plagued by madness is no longer plausible to the reader. In this essay I would like to focus the factors which led to the madness of the protagonist. Although Bertha Mason and Jane Eyre seem to be enemies and contradictory characters.  Their is  several similarities between the two heroines, their life and finally between Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. Seeing Jane Eyre and Antoinette Cosway as sisters and doubles is very popular with some critics who dealt with the works of Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys. 

Cultural Studies

  

Thinking Activity 

Hello everyone! This blog task is part of our studies given by our professor Dr. Dilip Barad sir.

Cultural Studies definition 

Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary field, drawing on theories and practices from a range of humanities and social sciences disciplines, that seeks to investigate the ways in which cultures produce and are produced.

1. Understanding of Power in cultural studies. 

Three laws of power 

Power and position works dynamic it keeps on changing. Three laws of power are as follows:-

1.Power is never static.

2.Power is like water. 

3.Power is multiplied by power and powerlessness is multiplied by powerlessness.

 How does power comes into existence and how it's used?

Examples where power comes from?

Teacher and Student ( respect and discipline while talking)

Parents and Child Political ( use power to make people frientened or work is done when voting is near till their work is finished after their work is done same situation begins.)

Six sources of power 

Social norms

Physical force 

Majoritarianism 

Wealth 

Ideas

State action

2.why media studies is so important in our digital culture?

what is  digital culture ?

Digital culture is a concept that describes how technology and the internet are shaping the way that we interact as humans. It’s the way that we behave, think and communicate within society. 

Definition on media culture. 

In cultural studies, media culture refers to the current Western capitalist society that emerged and developed from the 20th century, under the influence of mass media. The term alludes to the overall impact and intellectual guidance exerted by the media, not only on public opinion but also on tastes and values.

Importance of media in digital culture 

Media studies is one of important aspect for digital culture from which we can get the knowledge and even about what is going around us.Social media increased the connections between people and created an environment in which you can share your opinions, pictures and lots of stuff. Social media improved creativity and social awareness for our society by interacting with other people and sharing new ideas and opinions.

Manufacturing Consent

 The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman provides an effective framework to analyse the functioning of the media. Often called one of the “most influential books ever written about the media”.

Noam Chomsky: The five filters of the mass media

Ownership 

The media outlets have to protect the interests of the company and in order to do this, they end up filtering out the information being supplied to the masses.

Advertising 

The second filter exposes the real role of advertising. Media costs a lot more than consumers will ever pay. So who fills the gap? Advertisers. And what are the advertisers paying for? Audiences. And so it isn’t so much that the media are selling you a product — their output. They are also selling advertisers a product — YOU.”

Sourcing 

The third of Herman and Chomsky's five filters relates to the sourcing of mass media news: "The mass media are drawn into a symbiotic relationship with powerful sources of information by economic necessity and reciprocity of interest." 

Flak 

If you want to challenge power, you’ll be pushed to the margins. When the media – journalists, whistleblowers, sources – stray away from the consensus, they get ‘flak’. This is the fourth filter. When the story is inconvenient for the powers that be, you’ll see the flak machine in action discrediting sources, trashing stories and diverting the conversation.

The common enemy 

To manufacture consent, you need an enemy  a target. That common enemy is the fifth filter. Communism. Terrorists. Immigrants. A common enemy, a bogeyman to fear, helps corral public opinion.

3. Who can be considered as truly educated person?

Truly educated person is one who think with an open mind and to never be limited to what one has been taught as truth. It is to blur the line between work and play and to learn not just because one is told to. An educated person is someone who learns for fun and recognizes that there is no end to learning, no final certification. This skill could have been gained through any number of means, but when someone has it, it is apparent. Any person can become educated; it simply takes the will to learn for the sake of learning and living.