Performativity
Performativity is the capacity of language to bring about transformative effects in the world.
With performativity, it goes beyond mere description, as language can operate as a means of social action, influencing and shaping the reality it articulates. Performativity, a concept elucidated by the philosopher John L. Austin, represents the capacity of language to enact changes in the world. It transcends the mere description of reality and serves as a form of social action. Austin distinguished between constative language, which conveys information about the world and can be assessed as either true or false, and performative language, which has the power to actively shape the world.
In Austin's framework, performative language encompasses speech acts such as making promises, taking oaths, placing bets, and conducting marriage ceremonies. For example, the utterance ‘I do’, when spoken by the right individuals in the appropriate context with the intended significance, has the transformative ability to change one's marital status from unmarried to married.
3 results found for "Performativity"
Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman is a hallmark of 20th-century art. Since the 1970s she’s taken pictures of herself as different ‘types’ of people from American culture and beyond. In this Artist’s Artist, we look at how the representation of women in popular culture shaped her history-making career.
Ekene Emeka-Maduka
Ekene Emeka-Maduka, born 1996, was raised in Kano, Nigeria, before moving to Canada as a student. She now lives and works in Winnipeg.
Tomás Sánchez
Tomás Sánchez was born in 1948 in Cuba, and is now based in Costa Rica.
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