Destruction in the performative / edited and with an introduction by Alice Lagaay and Michael Lorber.

• Superior document: Critical studies ; v. 36
• TeilnehmendeR: Lagaay, Alice.; Lorber, Michael.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Series: Critical studies (Amsterdam, Netherlands) ; v. 36.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (220 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Cultural transformation tends to be described in one of two ways: either with reference to what comes about, is created or emerges in the process of change or with reference to what is destroyed or obscured in that process. Within a performative paradigm, that is, from a perspective which focuses on the manner in which social and cultural reality is constituted or brought about by human activity, theorists have, in recent years, tended to underline the productive aspects of transformation by emphasising the creative thrust of performative processes and events. In so doing, this perspective has tended to overlook the extent to which a certain destructive element may in fact be inherent to such performative processes. Drawing upon a range of historical and contemporary constellations of socio-cultural change and a variety of different types of events and activities, the articles in this volume describe different forms of destruction and their respective role in processes of transformation. Their shared aim is to explore the manner in which destructivity, such as the destabilisation and destruction of orders, subjects and bodies, can be grasped by concepts of performativity. In other words, to what extent may a certain destructive dynamic be inscribed within this very notion?

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / Alice Lagaay and Michael Lorber -- Introduction: Destruction in the Performative / Alice Lagaay and Michael Lorber -- Recognition and Disrespect: Lordship and Bondage in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit / Steffen K. Herrmann -- Hegemonic Listening and Subversive Silences: Ethical-political Imperatives / Nikita Dhawan -- Two Saints and the Power of the Auditive / Rebecca Wolf -- Acoustic Violence in Contemporary German Theatre / Jenny Schrödl -- Asceticism Poses a Threat: The Enactment of Voluntary Hunger / Barbara Gronau -- Salomania – Trans and Trans-temporal: A Queer Archaeology of Destructiveness / Renate Lorenz -- Masochistic Self-shattering between Destructiveness and Productivity / Volker Woltersdorff -- Triggering Latency Zones in Modern Society: Richard Serra’s Sculptures within the Urban Setting / Kristiane Hasselmann -- Creative Destructions: Gabriel Tarde’s Concept of a Passionate Economy / Katja Rothe -- Code Decay: Organizational Performance and Destructivity / Robert Schmidt -- List of Contributors / Alice Lagaay and Michael Lorber.