In the colloquium on Thursday ¡­

In the colloquium on Thursday 29th, we'll discuss one of the questions which was given for the exam last year:

1. In her article entitled ¡°Thick Resistance¡±, Sherry Ortner makes the statement that ¡°There is life beyond even the most totalizing discourse¡­¡± What does she mean to communicate with this statement? Explain the theory of ¡°totalizing discourse¡± she refers to. What theory does she weigh it against in developing her idea of ¡°thick resistance.¡± Give two examples of discourses which discipline social agency (from a review of literature or from your own experience). Give examples which show that ¡°there is life beyond even the most totalizing discourse.¡±

Ortner, Sherry. 1999. ¡¯Thick Resistance: Death and the Cultural Construction of Agency in Himalaya mountaineering¡¯, in S. B. Ortner (ed) The Fate of ¡¯Culture¡¯: Geertz and Beyond. Berkeley: University of California Press.