When Gesture Becomes Event

Abstract

Judith Butler begins this work with a consideration of gender performativity in order to think about the relationship between linguistic and performance studies, locating the body as the interface for both the speech act and embodied performance. Echoing her well-known arguments that “performance” must replace “essence” as a way to understand the development of gendered identities, Butler examines the role of “gesture” in relation to language and performance by focusing on Walter Benjamin’s reading of epic theater in Brecht. She suggests that Benjamin’s account of Brecht’s epic theater construed “gesture” as an unconventional, unsupported, and de-authorized form of action that cannot quite be accounted for. Performance therefore involves a form of alienation, and gesture—where language and performance intersect—can potentially become an allegory of the decomposition of the speech act. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Cite this

Judith Butler (2017). When Gesture Becomes Event. Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95192-5_15

@article{judith2017when,
  title  = {When Gesture Becomes Event},
  author = {Butler, Judith},
  year   = {2017},
  journal = {Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks},
  doi    = {10.1057/978-1-349-95192-5_15}
}