Deconstruction, Subjectivity, and Remixing.
“One is not born a woman, one becomes one.” – Simon de Beauvoir
“Identity politics is
Deconstructing Identities
The construction of identities help societies make sense of the world by putting
information into categories with the hopes of maintaining social order. However, the
process becomes harmful when these identities become static and uphold a binary that
fosters hierarchy. Two such identities include gender and race.
The binary gender hierarchy, or man/woman, is based on pre-existing notions of
biological sex (male/female with no classification of sex outside this binary). The gender
binary is hierarchically classified whereby masculine characteristics are valued while
feminine characteristics pose a threat to masculinity and are of a lesser value. Examples
of this gendered hierarchical dualism include active/passive, dominant/submissive,
protector/protected, rational/irrational, and aggressive/peaceful.
Similarly, the concept of racial identity is based on the hierarchical organization
of physical and cultural differences whereby “white” casts itself as the dominant race and
defines characteristics in relation to it. The result is a consistent casting of “non white
races” as inferior. Examples of race-based phonotypical characteristics defined in relation
to dominant white characteristics include skin coloration, the size of the nose and skull,
and hair texture. Cultural differences eventually replaced biological ones and formed a
new “cultural racism”. Examples of these can be found in philosophical concepts
including mind/body, culture/nature, civilized/primitive, knowledge/intuition, light/dark,
white/black, God/devil, order/chaos, citizen/alien, and national/immigrant.
This social construction of race mirrors that of gender in that it artificially divides
people into distinct groups based on the social, economic and political needs of a
society at a given period of time. The grouping is based on arbitrary characteristics and
pre-existing notions of sex, sex roles, nationality, and ethnicity for purposes of
categorization. Categories are hierarchically organized to foster and justify the use of
power to marginalize, silence or otherwise subordinate one social group or category.
Deconstructing Identities, Deconstructing Images
Deconstructing gender and race identities reveals the arbitrary characteristics and
rigid categorization on which oppression is based in an effort to destabilize these systems
of oppression. Once again, adopting an identity is not a wholly negative process. It
becomes harmful when those identities are stationary, used to justify power over another,
and foster a binary. Identities of gender and race can be positive when they are not
constructed as a stable identity, but are open to resignification and recontextualization.
Populations and people continually draw and redraw, maintain and breach, narrow
and widen the boundaries around themselves and others. What is understood as
masculine and feminine or white and non-white is historically, temporally, and
geographically situated. It is dependent on the discrimination, exploitation, violence and
inferiorization in addition to cultural references to blood, stock, genetic differences,
bodily attributes, color and intelligence. But while the boundaries that constitute
identities change based on the social, economic and political needs of a society at a
given period of time, they are in no way fluid. That is, they still foster a binary and
are used to justify power. They move and change, but are not open to resignification and
recontextualization.
Remixing, the process of deconstructing appropriated mass media images for the
purpose of cultural critique, allows for a fluid concept of identity because it encourages
the placement of mainstream images of identity within a moving historical context.1 The
use of appropriation in the remix process allows for identities to be rearticulated and
recontexualized, no longer static or fixed in time and space. Remixing and the
deconstruction of hegemonic images of identity grants subjectivity to producers whereby
they are resignifying the practices, discourses, and institutions that perpetuate the binary
on which oppression is based2. The remixing, reframing, and recycling of cultural images
can be used as an effective tool for political mobilization because it breaks down social
constructs, simultaneously granting subjectivity to producer. Both the form and content
mirror each other’s purpose: to redefine the way the world is represented.
Remixing grants subjectivity back to the producer because it allows for a fluid
concept of gender and race. As a result, gender and racial identities are important points
of political departure, despite being socially constructed to foster and justify the power of
the dominant. A remixer’s gender identity can be her motivation for action, a delineation
of her politics, a lens through which she can view hegemonic images and be critical of
them. Similarly, her racial identity can be defined by a particular political position as
opposed to arbitrary characteristics. It is in this way that identities can be utilized, rather
than eliminated, as a position from which to act politically. Remixing allows active
contribution to the context within that position is defined.
Remix: A Historical Context
The concept of recycling images for the purpose of recontexualization is not new
to the art/activist world. While the term “appropriation art” did not evolve until the
1980’s, the Dada movement, the Surrealists, and the Fluxus art movements used
appropriation as a tool to dissemble concepts of culture. Historically, video in the hands
of female artists has subverted, critiqued and disassembled images of socially accepted
gender and race stereotypes, fueling political and social movements. Artists such as
Howardena Pindell, Abigail Child, Cheryl Dunye, Dara Birnbaum and Martha Rosler
used video to deconstruct identities of race and gender, often through the appropriation of
1
Because media can be remixed and remixes can be remixed, no concept remains static.
Images move in and out of context, depending on the message.
2
One criticism of post-modern deconstruction theory is that it eliminates subjectivity,
leaving little room for effective political engagement. Politics is based on the initial
principle that everyone has a material identity that allows them to pass judgment on
political claims. The argument is that with no identity, there is no real fight or motivation
for action for the thread of commonality is lost.
other identities, images, footage, or mainstream media frameworks, recontextualizing
cultural associations while participating in culture creation. Remixing stems from these
previous modalities of identity deconstruction, however, remixes are their own art form,
for they simultaneously deconstruct images of identity while granting producers
subjectivity.
Conclusion
Identities of gender and race can be positive when they are not constructed as a
stable identity, but are open to resignification and recontextualization. Remixing allows
for a fluid concept of identity because it encourages the placement of images within a
moving historical context and grants subjectivity back to producers who are able to still
utilize gender and racial identities as a position from which to remix. While this
deconstruction of images and identities and the appropriation of other elements in the
creation of new work is nothing new in the art/activism world, remixing simultaneously
allows producers to deconstruct cultural images of identity while granting them
subjectivity through the resignification of the practices, discourses, and institutions that
perpetuate the binary on which oppression is based.