Judith Butler and a Pedagogy of Dancing Resilience

Abstract

Abstract:This essay is part of a larger project in which I construct a new, historically informed, social justice–centered philosophy of dance, centered on four central phenomenological constructs, or “moves.” This essay, in particular, is about the fourth move, “resilience.” More specifically, I explore how Judith Butler engages with the etymological aspects of this word, suggesting that resilience involves a productive form of madness and a healthy form of compulsion, respectively. I then conclude by showing how “resilience” can be used in the analysis of various Wittgensteinian “families” of dance, which, in turn, could facilitate positive educational changes in philosophy, dance, and society, with particular efficacy on the axis of gender. In brief, by teaching a conception of strength as vulnerability (instead of machismo’s view of strength as apathetic “toughness”), a pedagogy of dancing resilience provides additional support for feminists (including Anzaldúa, Haraway, Butler, and Concepción) who advocate a cautious openness toward seemingly unlikely resources and allies (including analytic methodologies, Machiavellian politics, and the discourses of the natural sciences).