Thinking self: Queering theory towards a liberatory practice an inquiry towards a greater understanding of the categories of identity & difference (sex, gender, desire, race and class)

• Main Author: Manauat, Natividad Dominique G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2000
• Subjects: Self (Philosophy); Personality (Theory of knowledge); Identity; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/2404
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper is a journey into the self. Through narrative philosophy and deconstruction, it is aimed that the many categories of the self, namely, sex, gender, desire, race and class find the convergence in one unified self .Emphasis is made on finding the meaning of certain concept like woman, lesbian, ethnicity and class . The author discusses these categories at length and intersperses theories with lived experiences. As a feminist and as a lesbian activist, the writer ponders on identity theory and politics and how these might be useful in ending oppression and achieving liberation.The three important questions that are asked all relate to the Socratic dictum: Who am I? is the basic tenet that seeks to know one's self. This leads to the next concern, What is the condition of the I (or the Self)? In answering this, the writer speaks and narrates her life experiences as a 'self' and its many categories. Finally, in looking at her future, the author is concerned about the prospects of personal happiness, as well as justice.The paper admittedly, raises more questions than answers. In theorizing the self, it becomes inevitable that even theory itself is put into doubt, hence, queering theory. Thinking self after all, means that the self is a thinking entity, as it is also the object of the activity. This paper is personal in the sense that the insights herein are the author's own narrative, and hence ought not to be applied to other persons. But it is also academic in the sense that the self is a valid philosophical concern. It is also political for it challenges society's notions on lesbian and gay lives.