Can Knowledge be (a) Performative?
Performativity in the Studies of Science
The recent surge in popularity of the nations of performance and performativity
provides an incentive for ezamining their productivity for contemporary models of
knowledge production. Drawing upon a host of conceptions from performance studies,
philosophy of language, literary theory, gender studies as well as the postconstructivist
science and technology studies, the Author proposes that we investigate knowledge in terms
of its performativity.
The concept of "knowledge as (a) performative" draws attention to a specific,
profoundly transformative, yet at the same time embedded character of knowledge, itself
understood both as a product and a productive process. Such vision brings to focus its
open-ended, non-linear, transient, and heterogeneous character, its active engagement with
the world and within matrices of power, lack of clear-cut paths or easily measurable
results. As a result, introducing the concept of knowledge as (a) performative entails a
number of shifts in both ,language of description and issues at stake, concerning above
all, the character and spaces of knowledge production, questions of broadly understood
effectiveness, a link to power and ethics, as well as a more general problem of
delineating the role of science in today's world.
160 pages, Paperback