The discourses of self and identity: a Levinasian approach to rethinking discourse

IF 1.7 3区教育学 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Discourse-Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education Pub Date : 2022-01-07 DOI:10.1080/01596306.2021.2021644

Donald S. Blumenfeld-Jones

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT The distinction between ‘self’ and ‘identity’ is explored using James Baldwin’s work and Western anthropology’s assignment of ‘self’ only to Western dominant cultures. Anthropologists perform epistemicide on these ‘less advanced’ cultures by reducing them to identification with the group with no inner life. Identity is then explored as an artifact of language through de Saussure, Derrida, and Foucault. Emmanuel Levinas’ analysis of how we craft identities (through discourse) departs from discourse through a self (transcendent and unclassifiable through language). Levinas’ approach to ethics depends on what language cannot deliver, an awareness of an Other as radically separate. The Other escapes linguistic machinations and establishes our individual identities. Responsibility emerges for the infinite Other by recognizing we cannot control another. Ironically, we are connected to an Other through humility of not knowing the Other which fulfills our desire for knowing (by not knowing), what Levinas terms ‘metaphysical desire’.

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自我与同一性的话语:一种重新思考话语的列文式方法

摘要运用詹姆斯·鲍德温的著作和西方人类学将“自我”只分配给西方主流文化的观点，探讨了“自我”和“身份”之间的区别。人类学家通过将这些“不太先进”的文化简化为与没有内在生活的群体的认同，来对其进行认识上的杀戮。通过德索绪尔、德里达和福柯，身份被探索为语言的产物。Emmanuel Levinas对我们如何（通过话语）塑造身份的分析偏离了通过自我（通过语言超越和不可分类）的话语。Levinas的伦理学方法取决于语言所不能传递的东西，即对他者的彻底分离的认识。他者逃脱了语言的阴谋，建立了我们的个人身份。认识到我们无法控制另一个，责任就产生了。具有讽刺意味的是，我们通过不了解他者的谦逊而与他者联系在一起，这满足了我们对知道的渴望（通过不知道），莱维纳斯称之为“形而上学的欲望”。

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来源期刊

Discourse-Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

5.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Discourse is an international, fully peer-reviewed journal publishing contemporary research and theorising in the cultural politics of education. The journal publishes academic articles from throughout the world which contribute to contemporary debates on the new social, cultural and political configurations that now mark education as a highly contested but important cultural site. Discourse adopts a broadly critical orientation, but is not tied to any particular ideological, disciplinary or methodological position. It encourages interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis of educational theory, policy and practice. It welcomes papers which explore speculative ideas in education, are written in innovative ways, or are presented in experimental ways.