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Thesis
For this timeline I will be proving a synopsis of Post-Structuralism while providing information on the great works and writers who supported the system. Here is a quick video to understand the difference between Post-Structuralism and its predecessor Structuralism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_IYn6ZEKqs -
Roland Barthes
In 1953-57, Roland released two major works called "Mythologies" and "Writing Degree Zero" which critiqued authority and began the dive into cultural symbolism. -
The beginning
Post-Structuralism came to fruition in France in the 1960s as a reaction to structuralist thought. It emphasized the denial of interpretive structure brought on by systems of power. It is an attack of pre-established systems that we take for granted. This theory emerged from Derrida and was published under the work "Structure Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences". It is worth noting that Post-structuralism hates beginnings so lets refrain from calling this so. -
Michel Foucault
Eventually French thought exploded and the mantle was taken by non-other then Foucault. He wrote many books over the year including "Order of Things", "Madness and Civilization", Discipline and Punish" and even "History of Sexuality". All of the works played major impacts on how we viewed the world. All in all, Foucault sought to examine the role that power, knowledge and discourse played in society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBJTeNTZtGU -
The Path Less Traveled
Into the early 70s we found another great shift in Post-Structuralist thought which included the likes of Deleuze, Guattari, Lacan and Julia Kristeva. This ideas attacked capitalism, territorialization, Psychoanalysis, unconsciousness, desire and subjectivity. Some of the major works include "Anti-Oedipus", "A Thousand Plateaus", "Revolution in Poetic language" and :Powers of Horror". -
Intersectionality
Into the 80s and early 90s Post-Structuralism began to intersect into many other fields. This fields included Postcolonialism, feminism, historicism and queer theory. Judith Butler had a large impact on the way society viewed gender and we are still learning today, her major work "Gender Trouble" is a must for anyone library. It also made a large impact in that of cultural studies which included the analysis of discourse and power in understanding cultural phenomena. -
Legacy
Post-structuralist ideas continue to influence various fields, but they also face critique from scholars who question the emphasis on linguistic indeterminacy and the issues of social justice and material inequality. -
Post-Post
Post-Post-Structuralism is a very new topic which is an addition to this thought system. It can be defined by the use of affect theory, new materialism and the digital shift in society.