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Laughing Matters: Micro-Resistance to Gendered Rationality
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- Author / Creator
- Douglas, Emily R.
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Since the 1980s, many feminist philosophers have pointed out the association of
masculinity and maleness with reason and rationality, and femininity and femaleness with
unreason and irrationality. Struck by how these associations influence even ordinary activities
and discourse, I sought a more nuanced approach. Examining the dichotomous responses to
gendered reason, I argue that resistance to gendered norms of rationality cannot be
accomplished through practical reason alone. Allowing unconventional forms of resistance to
“count” as political, by reconceptualising resistance on a Foucauldian framework, provides
theorists with many new resources. The laughter norms which we are disciplined to follow
constitute a subject’s gender and her rationality. We can disrupt these norms in at least three
ways: by laughing when it is unexpected, by changing our comportment during laughter, and
by refusing to laugh when it is expected. Ultimately, I propose that feminist subjects can
politically transform our selves, and others, through micro-practices of laughing differently. -
- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2014
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Arts
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.