Definitions HQ

Performativity (n.) means ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠that acts and gestures fabricate the very essence they purport to express, sustaining it through bodily signs.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a renewable action without clear origin or end, enabled precisely by the contexts from which it breaks.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a singular act but a repetition and a ritual, achieving its effects by becoming natural in a body.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not a single deliberate act but the reiterative, citational practice by which discourse produces the effects that it names.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠always the repetition of a norm, which, gaining an act-like status in the present, conceals the conventions it repeats.

Performativity (n.) pictured ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as sovereign power — efficacious, unilateral, transitive, generative — is a figure that may compensate for a lost sense of power.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a metalepsis: the expectation that gender is an inner essence waiting to be disclosed produces the very essence it expects.

Performativity (n.) styles ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the flesh — gendered bodies are styles of the flesh — never fully self-styled, for styles have histories that condition and limit their possibilities.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠how Arendt grounds the right to have rights: it has no ground outside its own assertion, so she establishes it by writing it.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠neither free play nor theatrical self-presentation, nor simply performance — it is the forced reiteration of norms.

Performativity (n.) describes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠being implicated in what one opposes — turning power against itself, not pure opposition or transcendence but the difficult labor of forging a future from resources inevitably impure.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the efficacious expression of a human will in language but a modality of power as discourse — its force lies in the historicity of norms, not in choice.

Performativity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠being acted on in ways we do not fully understand and acting in politically consequential ways — deciding who becomes a subject whose life is worth sheltering and, when lost, worth mourning.