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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Speech act theory and democratic communication : re-thinking the role of speech and the body in democratic theory and practice Willson, Mark Adrian
Abstract
This thesis investigates a leading bias of democratic thought, both popular and academic: that speech is the only and best modality of political action in democracy. Through the texts of J.L. Austin, Pierre Bourdieu and Hannah Arendt I investigate exclusionary consequences of this dimension of contemporary democratic life, highlighting how an emphasis on speech as the primary, and perhaps sole, legitimate form of democratic participation threatens to impede the contributions of groups that lack access to forms of speech that are taken seriously, and positions from which speech gets heard. To illuminate non-speech oriented dimensions of democratic politics that are typically treated as illegitimate, or not thought about at all, I link this work on speech theory and democratic theory to literature that explores the body itself as another vehicle for communication and site of political action. With reference to the works of Judith Butler, I investigate the body as a site of communicative power for social actors whose speech contributions tend to be unauthorized by dominant norms and undervalued due to social prejudices. With reference to these strands of thought, I emphasize the central role of bodily acts in a continuous widening of access to deliberative democratic processes, and I argue that such acts should be recognized as having a greater role in, and deserve greater attention in studies of, democratic communication and struggles for recognition.
Item Metadata
Title |
Speech act theory and democratic communication : re-thinking the role of speech and the body in democratic theory and practice
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
2005
|
Description |
This thesis investigates a leading bias of democratic thought, both popular and academic: that speech is the only and best modality of political action in democracy.
Through the texts of J.L. Austin, Pierre Bourdieu and Hannah Arendt I investigate exclusionary consequences of this dimension of contemporary democratic life,
highlighting how an emphasis on speech as the primary, and perhaps sole, legitimate form of democratic participation threatens to impede the contributions of groups that
lack access to forms of speech that are taken seriously, and positions from which speech gets heard. To illuminate non-speech oriented dimensions of democratic politics
that are typically treated as illegitimate, or not thought about at all, I link this work on
speech theory and democratic theory to literature that explores the body itself as another vehicle for communication and site of political action. With reference to the
works of Judith Butler, I investigate the body as a site of communicative power for
social actors whose speech contributions tend to be unauthorized by dominant norms
and undervalued due to social prejudices. With reference to these strands of thought, I
emphasize the central role of bodily acts in a continuous widening of access to
deliberative democratic processes, and I argue that such acts should be recognized as having a greater role in, and deserve greater attention in studies of, democratic
communication and struggles for recognition.
|
Genre | |
Type | |
Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-12-16
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0092197
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
2005-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.