Departmental Papers (ASC)

Title

Undoing Power

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

January 1995

Comments

Reprinted from Critical Studies in Mass Communication Volume 12, Issue 2, 1995, pages 101-132.

Abstract

This essay speaks into power -- not about what the powerless lack or what the powerful have too much of and in terms of which empowerment would mean appropriating it from Others. It explores some of the entailments of talking and conceiving our world in these rather common monological terms. In the course of this examination, an understanding of power arises that is tied to being in dialogue with Others and involves the bodily experiences of languaging. Here, empowerment means something altogether different.

Date Posted: 07 March 2008