Sınırların Yapısökümü: Ototeori’nin Feminist Mirası

Öz

Ototeori, yaşanmış deneyimleri eleştirel teori ve/veya felsefeyle bütünleştiren feminist bir yazı ve sanatsal uygulama tarzıdır. Kökleri feminist edebiyat, felsefe ve aktivizmin uzun tarihine dayanan ototeori, teori ile pratiğin, kişisel olan ile teorik olanın, sanat ile yaşamın ve zihin ile bedenin arasındaki geleneksel sınırları yapıbozuma uğratır. Bu makale, köklerini 18. yüzyıldaki kadın yazarların itiraf yazınından, “kişisel olan politiktir” gibi ikinci dalga feminist fikirlere, Kartezyen öznelliğin postyapısalcı eleştirilerine, postmodern feminist ‘toplumsal cinsiyet performatifliğine ve kesişimsel feminist müdahalelere kadar takip ederek, ototeorinin feminist tarihini özetlemektedir. Aynı zamanda ototeorinin bilgi üretiminin fallus merkezli hiyerarşilerine nasıl direndiğini de vurgulamaktadır. Ayrıca bu makale, ototeorinin, alıntı yapma ve işbirlikçi yazım gibi stratejiler aracılığıyla benliği çoğul, çeşitli ve ilişkisel olarak yeniden tanımlaması nedeniyle, dönüştürücü potansiyelini incelemektedir. Sonuç olarak bu çalışma, bir yandan marjinalleştirilmiş seslerin yaşanmış deneyimler aracılığıyla teorik söylemle meşgul olmaları için bir alan sağlarken, bir yandan da öznellik ve teori oluşturmaya ilişkin geleneksel epistemik yapıları parçalamada ototeorinin rolünü vurgulamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ototeori
• Feminizm(Ler)
• Öznellik
• Eleştirel Teori
• Yaşanmış Deneyimler

Deconstructing Boundaries: Autotheory’s Feminist Legacy

Abstract

Autotheory is a feminist style of writing and artistic practice that integrates lived experiences with critical theory and/or philosophy. Having roots in a long history of feminist literature, philosophy, and activism, autotheory deconstructs traditional boundaries such as those between theory and practice, the personal and the theoretical, art and life, and mind and body. This article outlines the feminist genealogy of autotheory, tracing its roots from the eighteenth-century women’s confessional writing, through second-wave feminist ideas such as “the personal is political,” to poststructuralist critiques of Cartesian subjectivity, postmodern feminist notions of gender performativity, and intersectional feminist interventions. It also highlights how autotheory resists the phallocentric hierarchies of knowledge production. Moreover, it examines the transformative potential of autotheory due to its re-definition of the self as plural, diverse and relational through strategies like citation and collaborative writing. Ultimately, this study emphasises autotheory’s role in dismantling traditional epistemic structures regarding subjectivity and theory-making while providing a space for marginalized voices to engage in theoretical discourse through lived experiences.

Keywords

• Autotheory
• Feminism(S)
• Subjectivity
• Critical Theory
• Lived Experiences

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