A Critical Feminist Semiology: De-naturalizing and Re-Politicizing Patriarchal, White Supremacist, and Settler-Colonial Systems of Meaning
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Date
2024-08-07
Authors
Ring, Annalee
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This dissertation de-naturalizes and re-politicizes patriarchal, white supremacist and settler-colonial systems of meaning through creating a methodology of critical feminist semiology. This methodology is built from the contributions of many thinkers’ works in semiology, phenomenology, philosophy of myth, feminist philosophy, and critical philosophy of race. I return to the emergence of semiology in Ferdinand de Saussure’s work to show that it has been more political than the dominant reading takes semiology to be. My reading of his work emphasizes the importance of studying politics, history, institutions, colonialism, and geography in the study of signs as a part of social life. I critique Roland Barthes for depoliticizing the method of semiology while acknowledging his many contributions, especially in the study of myths. Barthes’ emphasis on the operation of myths to naturalize and depoliticize politically motivated contingencies is a major contribution to the method of critical feminist semiology. This project turns to Simone de Beauvoir’s work The Second Sex and reads it as a semiological phenomenology. Beauvoir’s work closely considers signs as a part of social life through demonstrating the contingency of the myth of the eternal feminine as well as its political, economic, social, and ontological operations. She shows how this myth shapes lived experiences and how it might be resisted. This chapter demonstrates that the myth of the eternal feminine operates as a part of a patriarchal system of meaning. The dissertation then turns to the field of Black feminist thought, which considers how myths sustain and reinforce race and gender oppression in a more collective manner than the semiologists previously considered. This chapter identifies clusters of myths that support one another and that support what I call the meta-myth of white supremacy. White supremacy is both a singular myth and a meta-myth that is supported by clusters of myths. To dismantle the meta-myth of white supremacy, it is vital to understand how it is supported by and supports clusters of myths; that is, treating it as an individual myth is insufficient. This dissertation then engages with Indigenous and decolonial scholars to show how clusters of myth sustain settler colonialism. The cluster of myths considered in this chapter also supports the meta-myth of white supremacy. Decolonial scholars demonstrate the importance of purging mythologies that contribute to the material success of settler-colonialism. Throughout the dissertation, myths are considered material; rather than treated as abstractions alone, myths have significant impacts on material conditions and as such should be given moral scrutiny.
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Keywords
Critical Philosophy of Race, Feminist Philosophy, Patriarchy, Semiology, Systems of Meaning, White Supremacy