Terms and (Starting) Definitions:
a handout for understanding some important concepts for Dr. Pegoda’s classes
In an effort to help illustrate the following definitions, we will work from four example people.
Lola is a Black woman in her early 40s. She has one child and is married to a Black man. She works as a judge and has substantial job security. She was born in the United States and has no known disabilities. She is a Christian.
Nathaniel is a genderqueer, masculine-appearing queer individual in their early 40s. He is white, single, and has no children. He has been a professor for two decades. They were born in the United States and have parents who are still married. He is disabled and is an atheist. He’s also licensed to marry people. (Yes, Nathaniel switches between “he” and “they” pronouns.)
Abdulmajeed is a teenager from Saudi Arabia who currently lives in Houston to undergo cancer treatment. He uses a wheelchair and might not survive the treatment. He and his family are Muslims.
Molly is in her early 30s, is engaged, and has five children. She is white and unemployed. She has a criminal record and is facing new charges for theft. She lives on family wealth and has a solid education, including being trilingual. She is bisexual and occasionally engages in sex work.
Intersectionality-
is a concept that helps us understand how socially constructed identities (or demographic variables) intersect and overlap. It’s never enough to know, say, that someone is a man or a woman or neither. In order to begin to understand and appreciate a person’s experiences and to understand how society privileges and oppresses them, we need to know all of their identities–race, class, geographical location, religion, dis/ability, age, gender, sexuality, and much more.
It’s useful to recognize that ultimately a person, say Lola, is not “…married and Black and a woman…” but a “…married Black woman….” Intersectionality (and its continued development under phraseology such as “assemblage” and “compositionism”) helps us see how identities are not just separate entities that combine/intersect but entities that scramble together to make for unique, individual experiences.
Intersectionality also helps us see that while Lola and Molly are both women, they have very different daily realities; while Nathaniel and Abdulmajeed are both disabled, they have very different daily realities; and while Nathaniel, Lola, and Molly are each highly-educated, they have very different daily realities, realities that are a combination of privileges and oppressions. Specifically, looking at Lola and Molly: They are both women, but Molly has a criminal record, and Lola is the judge who, with the stroke of her pen, has issued legal punishments against Molly. Any horizontal solidarity that might exist between their womanhood, does not overcome or negate the other factors.
With intersectionality, we know that Lola faces racism and sexism from society in the United States. We know that if Lola and Molly were identical except for their race, life would be very different. We also know that if Nathaniel is, say, malnourished vs. skinny vs. overweight vs. morbidly obese, they will be treated differently. Due to his disability, his “excessive weight” might be attributed to medical conditions vs “poor eating,” for example.
Positionality-
is a concept that helps us understand what–socially constructed–identities mean in a given time and place and that helps us understand how society POSITIONS said identities as either being privileged or oppressed. Positionality is also a way to help people articulate their privileges and oppressions and thus their outlook on and interactions with the world–their POSITIONS in a given time and place.
Specifically, positionality helps us understand that Nathaniel‘s atheism is only intelligible in a theistic society; that Lola‘s dark skin in 2023 would be experienced and received very differently in Jackson, Mississippi, compared to Midland, Texas, compared to Cape Town, South Africa, compared to Lagos, Nigeria; and that Abdulmajeed, with lived experience in two nations, has a perspective on his life and the life of those around him otherwise not possible.
Positionality helps us ask/see that what it means to be Black, what it means to be disabled, what it means to be religious, what it means to be educated, what it means to have wealth all have different meanings in different times and places and such even provides different privileges and oppressions. The same person will experience different positions/positionalities based on where they are.
With positionality, we can see that Lola‘s Christianity caries social privilege in the United States, while it would be strongly oppressed in North Korea. Nothing changes but the positionality.
With positionality, we understand that identities have no essentialist reality but instead respond to specific circumstances and needs. For example, incommensurati writes on Twitter:
“I just want to point out that the term nonbinary didn’t exist when I was a baby queer. Like every identity term, nonbinary cannot be something we just ‘are.’ Its importance lies in how it is used, and what divisions are made when it is used.”
When thinking about your own positionality, think of all the different identities you have. Why do you have these identities? How do you embody these identities? What do these identities mean to you/for you? How do these identities function? Where are you located? How do others see you? Why? What kind of eye/perspective does all of this give you? Why? An individual’s answer to these questions tells them about their POSITION in a given society.
For more information about “intersectionality” and “positionality,” this YouTube playlist has some good information. The concept can be summarized as “The contexts that make up an individual’s identity…and how these affect the person’s view of the world.“
Performativity-
performativities are the actions, behaviors, or words that do something, that enact or perpetuate some kind of new (or renewed) reality in the present based on prior history/precedent, power/authority, and recognizability. In academic discourses, contrary to its everyday use in media and in activist groups, performativity does not mean “fake” or “insincere.”
A classic illustration of performativity comes from “I now pronounce you _” at the end of a wedding. So at the end of Molly‘s wedding when Nathanial says “I now pronounce you wife and wife,” his words are performative. These seven words have precedent, are recognizable, and create a new social and legal relationship between the new couple.
Consider the typical process of being arrested–handcuffs, being placed in the backseat of a police vehicle, having a mugshot, etc. This is all performative. The process is ritualized, recognizable, and full of power. It creates a new status for the person being arrested.
We can also think of gender, disability, and other identity variables in terms of performativity.
With gender being performative, think about Molly. Imagine that Molly‘s necklace, hairstyle, makeup, shirt, shoes, etc. are all screaming over and over “I’m a woman”/”This is women’s clothing.” For Molly and for others around Molly, her clothing and appearance help create and perpetuate what it means to be and to look like a woman–all based on precedent, recognizability, and cultural power.
Consider this additional example about performativity and disability from the article “Passing as Sane”:
“Whereas women describe managing their symptoms by taking bubble baths, reading quietly, cooking, receiving affirmation from a lover, and looking after their children, men report that they manage their symptoms by drinking with ‘mates’ or by themselves, joking, distancing themselves from family and friends, and damaging property. In these instances, adherence to gender norms…is a key aspect of being understood as sane. Had these people deviated from conservative gender norms–if the men had enjoyed bubble baths or the women had damaged property–it is likely that they would have been perceived as more mentally ill… Passing as sane depends on a wide range of social markers”
In an additional example, Abdulmajeed‘s use of a wheelchair helps signify and create his identity as disabled. The use of a wheelchair is widely recognized as an indicator of disability. Each time he rolls the chair forward, he further (re)creates and perpetuates the connection between using a wheelchair and being disabled.
Further, imagine a society where, say, using a wheelchair indicates great wealth: The ultra-rich in this society employ others to push them around while they save their energy. In such a scenario, a wheelchair is also performative. The action of being in a chair and rolling the wheels or being pushed is the same, but the meaning and realities created and perpetuated are very different, in this case, an identity of wealth.
A performative is different from what is called a constative, a constative being something that “is,” that is stable and constant (“The capitol of Texas is Austin”) or a declarative, a declarative being a statement of current feelings (“I’m hungry”). Sara Ahmed has also created a concept of the non-performative: “[actions] that do not bring into effect what they name.”
Performance–
this term can also be tricky and is often confused with “performative.” Performance describes the different roles a person has depending on their setting and role at the time and connects to the sociological idea of dramaturgy. It does not mean fake, does not mean insincere or pretending, and does not mean acting.
For performance consider the different power dynamics, the different roles and responsibilities, and the different layers of formality and preparation present when Lola is at home with her husband, is at home with her parents, is in her courtroom, or is pulled over in another state. In each situation, her role, her power, her performance is naturally different.
Further consider that in the performative action “I now pronounce you wife and wife,” Nathanial‘s performance on this occasion is to officiate the ceremony, and Molly‘s and her wife’s performance is to get married. Those in the audience have the performance of witnessing the proceedings. Later the same day of this wedding, everyone present will have the performance of traveling home, of eating, of taking a shower, etc.
True vs. Accurate-
the difference helps us understand the difference between what is documented and objectively accurate and what is either personally true, helps us understand the world, or helps us communicate larger historical realities.
Simply, something is accurate if it is factual and not debatable. It’s factual and accurate that the sun came out again this morning in Texas.
Something is true if it speaks to a person’s individual hopes and fears, to a society’s larger hopes and fears, and/or if it speaks to a larger point through a story or example or composite character or amalgamation of some kind. For example, novels and memoirs often show us things that are true but are not and cannot be accurate. Or while any notion of being “born this way” (whether with regard to gender, sexuality, religion, or talent) is never accurate, Molly understands her bisexuality in terms of a “born this way” framework due to the biphobia she faced growing up. Something can be true if it helps an individual in terms of explaining and understanding or accepting themselves in an often hostile world.
Consider too the following example from my friend, Dr. John Gillespie. This includes a story Fitzgerald “Jerry” Critchlow II shared with him.
“So this involves Black man named Jerry, a long-time deacon in the Episcopal church. Jerry told the story of how he came to join the Episcopal church over some of the other denominations on offer.
“His story takes place in New Orleans in the 1960s. As he tells it, he was walking down the street on Sunday morning. He popped into one church, and they told him, ‘Welcome, Brother, now have a seat in the back.’ Jerry was having none of that second-class treatment so he shook the dust off his boots and headed out the door.
“He came to the next church. He walked in, and they said, ‘Welcome, brother.’ And once again, it showed him to his seat in the back of the church. And once again, having none of this, he shook the desk off his boots about the door.
“At last, Jerry came to the episcopal church. He walked in the door and was immediately welcomed. The priest ushered him to the front row, threw a choir robe over his shoulders, and he was singing Jesus’s praises that very afternoon.
“Jerry died as a deacon in the Episcopal Church.
“Now, of course, the story is not historically accurate. It did not occur in real-time, nor can we attribute the dialogue to real people. nor can we say that there are three denominations holding service at the exact same time on any given street in New Orleans.”
This story meets the requirements for truth–it speaks to hopes and fears, namely struggles with racism and being accepted–but does not meet the requirements for historicity. The story is not historically, factually accurate. And in a case like this, a story that is true but not accurate might be more powerful–certainly more accessible–than a detailed, factual narrative.
Events vs. Meanings-
the difference helps us understand the difference between things that happened and the various ways people, based on their intersectionality and positionality, interpret these events.
Events are things that happen: Nathanial oversees the ceremony where Molly gets married, Abdulmajeed travels to Houston, Lola orders Molly to do community service. What these events mean will be different to different people. Because Molly is marrying another woman, some will see this event as having a dangerous, damning meaning. The event of Lola ordering Molly to only do community service might have a meaning, an interpretation of unfairness to Abdulmajeed given the harsh punishments he’s heard are delivered to poor immigrants of Color in the United States.
Embodiment
names the literal—involuntary and ongoing—processes that begin in utero and continue until death by which culture and history enter the body; incorporate into, inscribe upon, interact with, and change the body, inside and outside; and exit the body through specific behaviors, characteristics, experiences, and thoughts.
Said differently: our environment and the historical unconscious change our literal biology and physiology (internalization), and this changes our thinking and how we see the world (externalization). Embodiment rejects a mind/body dualism. Who we are: it’s not just nature, and it’s not just nurture.
Embodiment asks complex questions: How is your world influencing the (performative) functions of your particular body? How is your particular body influencing how you see and can see your world? What stories does your body tell? How do you use your body? How does your body move (and how does this vary by gender, race, time, place, etc.)?
Consider Hans Dooremalen’s example of a circular creature with eyes in every possible position who wouldn’t have a concept of “font” or “back” and “left” or “right.” Embodiment describes processes that might otherwise appear naturalized about the relationships between the world and who a person is/what their body is. Said bodies “embody” their environment. The mind and body are not separate entities.
Someone might realize how they have embodied their specific ways of speaking and hearing English when traveling between the South, New York, and Scotland. Culture and history enter bodies and shape/change the physiology of vocal tract, even making some sounds physiologically impossible to make or hear (e.g., “pin” vs “pen”). The body even incorporates mores of class and the nation; such embodiment partly determines the specific ways a person pronounces and even defines words. Embodiment manifests in the different ways that Vietnamese and United Statesian people comfortably sit with or without chairs.
We embody gender, too. Men and women are expected to walk, talk, and dress differently. How do you do gender? Gender differences vary by time and place and are made to seem and feel natural but are products of history and culture entering and changing the body. For example, men in Bangladesh wear a type of dress called a lungi. It’s also through embodiment that gender—and even race and sexuality—become a kind of biological force, despite being social constructions.
Another example from Tobin Siebers’s Disability Theory goes, “To take a famous example from Iris Young, the fact that many women ‘throw like a girl’ is not based on a physical difference….[society] disables women, pressuring them to move their bodies in certain, similar ways, and once they become accustomed to moving in these certain, similar ways, it is difficult to retrain the body.”
We embody ability and disability, as well. Cripnormativity articulates that society accepts disability insomuch as the person embodies disability in a way that communicates “normalcy” and a lack of “troublemaking.” How do you do ability or disability?
We embody religion, through practices such as FGM (female genital mutilation) or circumcision.
We even embody humanity. “Feral children” or “wild children” are those raised away from humans, sometimes by wild animals. These “people” might run on all fours, safely eat raw meat, and lack the physiology to ever use human speech. Culture and history enter and change bodies.
On Vishnu and Yahweh
When we discuss Vishnu and Yahweh, we really aren’t discussing the same personality or concept or History. The same goes for when we think about Zeus, Thor, the Great Spirit, Nyame, and the hundreds, the thousands of other Gods humans have worshipped, loved, lived and died for, etc. Thus, for my religious studies classes, please avoid any use of “God.” You want to always make it clear through your choice of words who and what exactly you are referring to. For this class, it will often work to say something like, “Yahweh, the Christian God.” This helps us also remember that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are all distinct, separate religions. Going about our phraseology in this way helps us specifically remember and honor the many traditions humans have had. When we use “God” generically and without any kind of qualifiers, we are making vast assumptions and erasing important history.
Other good words to know
- mores, pronounced “more-RAYS” — means deep, core values
- text — a book, poem, movie, table, building, image, person, car, etc., anything that communicates meaning, value, hopes, and fears, anything that can be rhetorically analyzed
- neoliberal(ism) — idolizes assimilation, conformity, invisibility, exceptionality, predictability, and responsibility; see this for more details.
by Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda
May 2023, Updated October and November 2023
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 