tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post450410257111087061..comments2023-10-16T06:10:24.969-04:00Comments on Julie Unplugged: PerformatismAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00088119765077193302noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-11968623721663565732008-07-12T20:32:00.000-04:002008-07-12T20:32:00.000-04:00Julie, What you have written shows a great deal of...Julie, <BR/><BR/>What you have written shows a great deal of thought and synthesis. I'm glad that movement from analysis to engagement is being championed on some front. <BR/><BR/>I'm curious -- it seems like you speak of your engagement in "sharing your faith" with a critical eye. I feel like you explained what went wrong in the process. From a performatist standpoint, when would it be right? What would be the conditions? <BR/><BR/>CoriCori Crawfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06626692352011833867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-65771195662904215412007-04-30T12:18:00.000-04:002007-04-30T12:18:00.000-04:00Before this post, I was not aware of the performat...Before this post, I was not aware of the performatist concept. It seems to me that at some point, all but the most relentless postmodernists have to let go of the deconstruction and then "do something" before endless paralysis sets in. Which is the problem that always seems to arise when postmodernism is pushed to its ultimate ends by people trying to argue against it. And it's a self-evident point. The question is, just how far do we push it? <BR/><BR/>I think the pomo thing became and becomes more necessary as the fundamentalist/rationalist grip gets tighter on minds and cultures. Deconstruction provides the way out of that trap. Performatism is the cue that says "we've dismantled enough to realize the substance of a thing, the agendas, the blindspots, etc., so let's get moving." Now we have a term to describe the other side of the pomo coin.David Blakesleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12167200509158903679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-52550947569893950252007-04-30T12:10:00.000-04:002007-04-30T12:10:00.000-04:00Julie,Julie,Regarding your point about doubt...it ...Julie,<BR/><BR/>Julie,<BR/><BR/>Regarding your point about doubt...it was not really until I learned to embrace my doubts (not unlike hugging a porcupine, at least initially) that I began to act despite them. My doubts are still somewhat like relatives that I wish I didn't have but still "belong" to me in a sense...but living with them is better than hiding them in a closet and pretending they are not there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-42401537064628195132007-04-30T03:52:00.000-04:002007-04-30T03:52:00.000-04:00Great post.I realised that I had become paralysed ...Great post.<BR/><BR/>I realised that I had become paralysed by my doubts and it suddenly struck me that I might never find The Answers, and then I might look back on an unlived, unloving life and have deep regrets.Kerenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09900288828110023872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-45273879268487232452007-04-29T11:05:00.000-04:002007-04-29T11:05:00.000-04:00I should bring one correction to my own writing he...I should bring one correction to my own writing here. I don't mean to imply that postmodernism suggests objectivity, because one of its prominent features is subjectivity (the inclusion of the self in the deconstructing process - examining one's own culture, gender, education, background, history and so on when examining langauge, religion, politics and so on).<BR/><BR/>So postmodernism is inherently subjective. But one of the dynamics that I see as different in performatism versus postmodernism is that the deconstruction for a postmodernist can lead to a "standing apart from" (hence the labels of independent, or free thinker, or agnostic) whereas for the performatist, there can be an entering in in spite of.<BR/><BR/>There's so much more to say about all this and I certainly am missing nuances since I have not made postmodernism or generative anthropology my fields of study. What I think I'm getting at for myself is that there is a point at which I can risk again. There's a profound difference between attachment to a belief system as the truest, rightest, onliest to ward off uncertainty and doubt. It's entirely another to have confronted the doubts, to have followed them down the path, to have welcomed them into the living room and made them tea, and then to make a decision to *do* anyway, even if all the doubts persist or aren't fully resolved.<BR/><BR/>To me, that's what it means to be adult in the faith, or to operate from the heart (as Bob says).<BR/><BR/>JulieAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00088119765077193302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-44966395007945717592007-04-29T08:52:00.000-04:002007-04-29T08:52:00.000-04:00I came back to say that I really, really (really!)...I came back to say that I really, really (really!) like this distinction, and your explanation of it:<BR/><BR/><I>Whereas postmodernism teaches us to stand back from the context, taking apart the pieces, examining them, exercising judgment or exposing the undersides, identifying ironies, missteps, power moves and error as though from a position outside/above/beyond the message (object), performance puts us in contact with a subject who is a complex whole, that is, a person whose meaning and message cannot be teased apart.</I><BR/><BR/>Meaning and message, two integral and inseperable aspects of the whole being.<BR/><BR/><I>Beliefs are subordinated to the act.</I><BR/><BR/>Yes! This is what I was trying to get at on my blog and in my comments to you there :).<BR/><BR/>Thanks so much for these last two posts, Julie!Ampersandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14469014547016164445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-83620694565206662292007-04-29T08:00:00.000-04:002007-04-29T08:00:00.000-04:00Well, this explains so much for me. While I ident...Well, this explains so much for me. While I identify so much with postmodernism, I have never had a great appreciation for deconstruction. Acting in spite of limitations is something that I know how to do. I'm all for a more instinctual type of living.Ampersandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14469014547016164445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-9567808890532404472007-04-28T14:32:00.000-04:002007-04-28T14:32:00.000-04:00Thanks for the article. I like the subtleties you...Thanks for the article. I like the subtleties you highlighted, that explain why I run from a fundamentalist and am drawn to a performatist! :-) I wish my life were more like the performatists you mention. That's what congruence would look like to me. And usually when you're around those kinds of folks (the performatists), they don't give you the feeling that they are judging your theology, your label, the tenets of your belief -- if anything, they are only looking to your actions to define who you are.my15minuteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17120108669030817877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-12751088065268356182007-04-28T10:58:00.000-04:002007-04-28T10:58:00.000-04:00I think that this ..."it's more important to act o...I think that this ...<BR/><BR/><I>"it's more important to act on what I "know" when I know it"</I><BR/><BR/>... is what I call living from the heart. <BR/><BR/>Julie, you have beautifully delineated this idea that I have been trying to get my head around for quite a while.<BR/><BR/>I think that so much of fundamentalism is based on living from our heads. Performatism seems to be living a life in which the head is subserviant to the heart.<BR/><BR/>I think I need to give this one a chance to 'sink in' and come back for another read.<BR/><BR/>Thanks, Bobkc bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17440862813109808755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684236.post-85770210228519411762007-04-28T10:42:00.000-04:002007-04-28T10:42:00.000-04:00P.S. I don't think all performatists are social ju...P.S. I don't think all performatists are social justice advocates either. Two of the performatist films cited in the Eshelman study are "Run Lola Run" and "American Beauty." If you've seen either or both of these, you know pristine otherliness is not the central concern.<BR/><BR/>Rather, there is a subjective control that focuses on repeated attempts to transcend what drags us backward, in spite of not having a perfectly well-articulated worldview or belief structure.<BR/><BR/>Beauty and "godliness" are found in odd places and elevate the subject.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00088119765077193302noreply@blogger.com