Public and Private Lives: Judith Butler’s Grief and the Loss of Black Self

Abstract By looking at Butler’s theories on grief and mourning, I focus on her concept of ecstasy, or the state of being outside of one’s self, which illustrates the dependency individuals have on social norms as well as the vulnerability such a system of recognition entails. Using this framework, I discuss how the private and the public spheres can construct public bodies. If this happens, individuals can have little say over how their bodies are socially signified. To show this, I use the case of Black women in the USA, where systemic oppression constantly draws their bodies into the public’s eye.