Performative in declaration and manifesto: on the issue of perverformative heritage
Abstract
The article analyzes and reconstructs the relationship between three concepts: performative, declaration, and manifesto. Examining John Austin's performative theory as depoliticized and limiting the domains and methods of performative realization, I characterize Austin's notion of the performative as conventional. The operation of a conventional performative is possible only within the framework of a legal system. Specific historical forms of such performativity include the declaration of nullity (recognition of a marriage as invalid) and the royal/military manifesto. The use of the concept of the “performative” for analyzing the manifesto and declarative genres is deconstructed in connection with the foundations of manifestos and declarations that do not fit into Austin's restricted notion of performativity. Based on the work of Jacques Derrida on the deconstruction of performative theory, aimed at introducing elements of perversion and iterability into it, I propose to consider the performative effect of declarations and manifestos in connection with such concepts as law and justice. An examination of the texts of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen and the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Citizen shows how the repetition of the law contributes to its subversion. Based on the concept of the “performative,” I turn to the “Communist Party Manifesto,” which allows us to define the Manifesto as an attempt to affirm and realize the possibility of justice. This justice is actualized by the “illegitimate” heirs through a deconstructive performative that rips the original context and opens up new forms of struggle, ensuring a permanent movement toward justice, carried out by various participants in emancipatory politics.
References
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Genre.” Genre, Vol. 18, N3: 257–295.
Berman, Marshall (1983). All that is solid melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity.
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Derrida, Jacques (1999). “Letter to a Japanese friend.” In Literary Theories: A Reader
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Derrida, Jacques (2002). Marx & Sons. Presses Universitaires de France.
Derrida, Jacques (1997). Of Grammatology. Johns Hopkins University Press, corrected
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Derrida, Jacques (1985). “Otobiographies: The Teaching of Nietzsche and the Politics
of the Proper Name.” In The Eear of the Other: Otobiography, Transference, Translation: texts and discussions with Jacques Derrida. University of Nebraska Press.
Derrida, Jacques (1988). “Signature Event Context.” In Limited Inc. Northwestern University Press.
Derrida, Jacques (1994). Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International, trans. by Peggy Kamuf. Routledge.
Derrida, Jacques (1987). The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and beyond. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Derrida, Jacques (2005). “Violence and Metaphysics”. In Emmanuel Levinas, ed. by Claire Elise Katz & Lara Trout. Routledge.
Derrida, Jacques, Bennington, Geoffrey (1993). Jacques Derrida. University Of Chicago Press.
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Derrida, Jacques, Marion, Jean-Luc, Kearney, Richard (1999). “On the gift: a discussion between Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion.” In God, The Gift, and Postmodernism. Indiana University Press.
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Foucault, Michel (2003). “What is an Author?” In Reading architectural History. Routledge.
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feminism in the 1980s.” Australian Feminist Studies, 2 (4): 1–42.
Hathaway, Oona A., Holste, William S., Shapiro, Scott J., Van De Velde, Jacqueline, Lachowicz, Lisa Wang (2018). “War Manifestos.” University of Chicago Law Review,
Vol. 85: Iss. 5: 1139–1226.
Henry, Michel (2011). “Proniknovenie v mysl’ Marksa” [Insight into Marx’s thought].
Istoriko-filosofskij ezhegodnik’2009: 229–245.
Indermuhle, Christian (2013). “Manifestes cybernétiques. Donna Haraway, les cyborgs
et les espèces de compagnie,” Lignes, Vol. 40, N1: 116–132.
Jaucourt, Mallet (1751). “Manifeste”. In Dans l’œuvre: Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire
raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. fr.wikisource.org https://fr.wikisource.
org/wiki/L%E2%80%99Encyclop%C3%A9die/1re_%C3%A9dition/MANIFESTE. Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig (2016). The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval
Political Theology. Princeton University Press.
Khanova, Polina (2021). Performativnye strategii samoobosnovaniya filosofskih
tekstov (na materiale rabot Z. Delyoza i J. Derrida) [Performative strategies for self-justification of philosophical texts (based on the works of J. Deleuze and J. Derrida)]. Dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences. MGU.
Kihm, Christophe (2013). “Manifestes, collectifs, mobilisations”. Lignes, 2013/1n°40: 9–20.
Kirsch, Anja (2017). “Red catechisms: socialist educational literature and the demarcation of religion and politics in the early 19th century.” Religion, 48 (1): 8–36.
Klatt, Johanna, Lorenz, Robert (2010). “Politische Manifeste: Randnotizen der Geschichte oder Wegbereiter sozialen Wandels?” Manifeste: Geschichte und Gegenwart des politischen Appells: 7–46.
Labriola, Antonio (1999). “In Memory of the Communist Manifesto.” Social Scientist Vol. 27, N1/4: 3–48.
Lewis, Charlton Thomas, Short, Charles (1945). A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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Marx, Karl (2002). “Theses On Feuerbach,” trans. by Cyril Smith. Marxists Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htm.
Marx, Karl, Engels, Frederick (1872). “Preface to the 1872 German edition of Manifesto of the communist party.” Marxists Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/ archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/preface.htm.
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Marx, Karl, Engels, Frederick (2010). “1847 Engels to Marx, 23–24 November”. In Marx/Engels Collected Works, Vol. 38, Letters 1844–51. Lawrence & Wishart.
Mauss, Marcel (2016). The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Routledge.
Orchakova, Larisa, Kozlovskaya, Galina, Palagina, Marina (2020). “Koronacionnye manifesty XIX v. kak sposob prezentacii imperatorskoj vlasti” [Coronation manifestos of the 19th century as a way of presenting imperial power]. Kaspijskij region: politika, ekonomika, kul’tura, N1: 15–19.
Plato (1962). Plato’s epistles, trans. by Glenn R. Morrow. The Library of Liberal Arts. Puchner, Martin (2006). Poetry of the revolution: Marx manifestos, and the avant-gardes.
Princeton University Press.
Reimer-Barry, Emily (2015). Catholic Theology of Marriage in the Era of HIV and AIDS:
Marriage for Life. Lexington Books.
Weeks, Kathi (2013). “The Critical Manifesto: Marx and Engels, Haraway, and Utopian
Politics.” Utopian Studies 24 (2): 216–231.
Wohl, Victoria (1998). “Plato Avant la Lettre: Authenticity in Plato’s Epistles.” Ramus,
27 (1): 60–93.
Yampolskaya, Anna (2014). “Rechevoj akt kak sobytie: Derrida mezhdu Ostinom
i Arendt” [Speech Act as Event: Derrida between Austin and Arendt]. Sociologicheskoe obozrenie. Vol .13. N 2: 9–24.
Abastado, Claude (1980b). “Le ‘Manifeste Dada 1918’: un tourniquet.” Les manifestes. Littérature 39: 39–46.
Achkasov, Valerii (2020). “Ponyatie ‘narod’ v politicheskom diskurse elit” [The concept of “people” in the political discourse of elites]. Vlast’ i elity. Vol. 7. N2: 64–76.
Austin, John (1975). How to do things with words. Harvard university press. Avtonomova, Nataliya (2000). “Derrida i grammatologija” [Derrida and grammatology]. In O grammatologii. Ad Marginem.
Avtonomova, Nataliya (2011). “K voprosu o prizrakah: Marx, Derrida i drugie” [On
the question of ghosts: Marx, Derrida and others]. Politiko-filosofskij ezhegodnik.
Vol. 4: 134–154.
Avtonomova, Nataliya (2011). Filosofskij yazyk Jacques Derrida [The philosophical
language of Jacques Derrida]. Rossijskaja politicheskaja enciklopediya (ROSSPEN). Azarova, Yulia (2011). “Kontsept ‘iterativnost’ v filosofii J. Derrida” [The concept of «iterability» in the philosophy of J. Derrida]. Vestnik Kharkovskogo nacional’nogo universiteta imeni V.N. Karazina. N980 (45): 166–174.
Babeuf, Gracchus (1977). “Manifest plebeev” [The Plebeians Manifesto]. In Babeuf,
Gracchus, Sochineniya v 4 t., t. 3. M.: Nauka.
Benstock, Shari (1985). “From Letters to Literature: La Carte postale in the Epistolary
Genre.” Genre, Vol. 18, N3: 257–295.
Berman, Marshall (1983). All that is solid melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity.
Verso.
Burger, Marcel (2002). Les manifestes: paroles de combat. De Marx à Breton. Paris:
Delachaux et Niestlé.
Betancourt, Michael (2022). “—————— manifest”. In 100 art-manifestov: ot futuristov
do stakistov [100 art manifestos: from futurists to stuckists]. Alpina non-fikshn. Caputo, John D., Scanlon, Michael J. (2005). “Introduction: The Postmodern Augustine.” In Augustine and Postmodernism. Confessions and Circumfession, ed. by John D. Caputo and Michael J. Scanlon. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press: 1–15.
Chernyh, Pavel (1999). Istoriko-etimologicheskij slovar’ sovremennogo russkogo yazyka v
2-h tomah [Historical and etymological dictionary of the modern Russian language in 2 volumes]. Vol. 1. Russkij yazyk.
“Code of canon law. Chapter IV. Matrimonial consent. Title VII. Marriage.” vatican. va. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4- cann998–1165_en.html#CHAPTER IV.
Cotton, Nicholas (2019). “Derrida à la lettre: éthique et politique du ‘perverformatif’ dans la Carte postale et au-delà.” Revista Filosófica de Coimbra, Vol. 28, N56: 433–458.
De Gouges, Olympe (1996). “Declaration of the Rights of Woman.” In The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History.
“Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” (1996). In The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History.
Delain, Pierre (2013). “Derrida, les droits (droits humains, droits de l’homme)”. idixa. net https://www.idixa.net/Pixa/pagixa-1306301057.html
Derrida, Jacques (2007). “A Certain Impossible Possibility of Saying the Event.” In Critical Inquiry, Vol. 33, N2: 441–461.
Derrida, Jacques (2005). “Composing ‘Circumfession’.” In Augustine and Postmodernism. Confessions and Circumfession, ed. by John D. Caputo and Michael J. Scanlon, 19–27. Indiana University Press.
Derrida, Jacques (1983). “Devant la loi.” Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, Vol. 16: 173–188.
Derrida, Jacques (1994). Force de loi. Le “Fondement mystique de l’autorité”. Galilée. Derrida, Jacques (1980). La carte postale, de Socrate à Freud et au-delà. Aubier–
Flammarion.
Derrida, Jacques (1999). “Letter to a Japanese friend.” In Literary Theories: A Reader
and Guide. Edinburgh University Press.
Derrida, Jacques (2002). Marx & Sons. Presses Universitaires de France.
Derrida, Jacques (1997). Of Grammatology. Johns Hopkins University Press, corrected
edition, trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.
Derrida, Jacques (1985). “Otobiographies: The Teaching of Nietzsche and the Politics
of the Proper Name.” In The Eear of the Other: Otobiography, Transference, Translation: texts and discussions with Jacques Derrida. University of Nebraska Press.
Derrida, Jacques (1988). “Signature Event Context.” In Limited Inc. Northwestern University Press.
Derrida, Jacques (1994). Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International, trans. by Peggy Kamuf. Routledge.
Derrida, Jacques (1987). The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and beyond. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Derrida, Jacques (2005). “Violence and Metaphysics”. In Emmanuel Levinas, ed. by Claire Elise Katz & Lara Trout. Routledge.
Derrida, Jacques, Bennington, Geoffrey (1993). Jacques Derrida. University Of Chicago Press.
Derrida, Jacques, Calle-Gruber, Mireille (2006). “Scènes des différences.” Littérature, N142: 16–29.
Derrida, Jacques, Marion, Jean-Luc, Kearney, Richard (1999). “On the gift: a discussion between Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion.” In God, The Gift, and Postmodernism. Indiana University Press.
“Manifeste” (2011). In Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, 9e édition. dictionnaire- academie.fr https://www.dictionnaire-academie.fr/article/A9M0525.
Foucault, Michel (2003). “What is an Author?” In Reading architectural History. Routledge.
Gane, Nicholas (2006). “When We Have Never Been Human, What Is to Be Done? Interview with Donna Haraway.” Theory, Culture & Society, 23 (7–8): 135–158. Haraway, Donna (1987). “A manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, technology, and socialist
feminism in the 1980s.” Australian Feminist Studies, 2 (4): 1–42.
Hathaway, Oona A., Holste, William S., Shapiro, Scott J., Van De Velde, Jacqueline, Lachowicz, Lisa Wang (2018). “War Manifestos.” University of Chicago Law Review,
Vol. 85: Iss. 5: 1139–1226.
Henry, Michel (2011). “Proniknovenie v mysl’ Marksa” [Insight into Marx’s thought].
Istoriko-filosofskij ezhegodnik’2009: 229–245.
Indermuhle, Christian (2013). “Manifestes cybernétiques. Donna Haraway, les cyborgs
et les espèces de compagnie,” Lignes, Vol. 40, N1: 116–132.
Jaucourt, Mallet (1751). “Manifeste”. In Dans l’œuvre: Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire
raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. fr.wikisource.org https://fr.wikisource.
org/wiki/L%E2%80%99Encyclop%C3%A9die/1re_%C3%A9dition/MANIFESTE. Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig (2016). The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval
Political Theology. Princeton University Press.
Khanova, Polina (2021). Performativnye strategii samoobosnovaniya filosofskih
tekstov (na materiale rabot Z. Delyoza i J. Derrida) [Performative strategies for self-justification of philosophical texts (based on the works of J. Deleuze and J. Derrida)]. Dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences. MGU.
Kihm, Christophe (2013). “Manifestes, collectifs, mobilisations”. Lignes, 2013/1n°40: 9–20.
Kirsch, Anja (2017). “Red catechisms: socialist educational literature and the demarcation of religion and politics in the early 19th century.” Religion, 48 (1): 8–36.
Klatt, Johanna, Lorenz, Robert (2010). “Politische Manifeste: Randnotizen der Geschichte oder Wegbereiter sozialen Wandels?” Manifeste: Geschichte und Gegenwart des politischen Appells: 7–46.
Labriola, Antonio (1999). “In Memory of the Communist Manifesto.” Social Scientist Vol. 27, N1/4: 3–48.
Lewis, Charlton Thomas, Short, Charles (1945). A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Luxemburg, Rosa (1974). “Our Program and the Political Situation.” Marxists Internet Archive https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1918/12/31.htm
Marx, Karl (1977). A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, trans. from the German by S.W. Ryazanskaya, ed. by Maurice Dobb. Progress Publishers.
Marx, Karl (2002). “Theses On Feuerbach,” trans. by Cyril Smith. Marxists Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htm.
Marx, Karl, Engels, Frederick (1872). “Preface to the 1872 German edition of Manifesto of the communist party.” Marxists Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/ archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/preface.htm.
Marx, Karl, Engels, Friedrich (2016). “Manifesto of the Communist Party.” Social Theory Re-Wired. Routledge.
Marx, Karl, Engels, Frederick (2010). “1847 Engels to Marx, 23–24 November”. In Marx/Engels Collected Works, Vol. 38, Letters 1844–51. Lawrence & Wishart.
Mauss, Marcel (2016). The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Routledge.
Orchakova, Larisa, Kozlovskaya, Galina, Palagina, Marina (2020). “Koronacionnye manifesty XIX v. kak sposob prezentacii imperatorskoj vlasti” [Coronation manifestos of the 19th century as a way of presenting imperial power]. Kaspijskij region: politika, ekonomika, kul’tura, N1: 15–19.
Plato (1962). Plato’s epistles, trans. by Glenn R. Morrow. The Library of Liberal Arts. Puchner, Martin (2006). Poetry of the revolution: Marx manifestos, and the avant-gardes.
Princeton University Press.
Reimer-Barry, Emily (2015). Catholic Theology of Marriage in the Era of HIV and AIDS:
Marriage for Life. Lexington Books.
Weeks, Kathi (2013). “The Critical Manifesto: Marx and Engels, Haraway, and Utopian
Politics.” Utopian Studies 24 (2): 216–231.
Wohl, Victoria (1998). “Plato Avant la Lettre: Authenticity in Plato’s Epistles.” Ramus,
27 (1): 60–93.
Yampolskaya, Anna (2014). “Rechevoj akt kak sobytie: Derrida mezhdu Ostinom
i Arendt” [Speech Act as Event: Derrida between Austin and Arendt]. Sociologicheskoe obozrenie. Vol .13. N 2: 9–24.
Published
2024-08-29
How to Cite
Makarov, V. (2024). Performative in declaration and manifesto: on the issue of perverformative heritage. Stasis, 12(1). Retrieved from https://stasisjournal.net/index.php/journal/article/view/266
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