A critique of essentialism must remain internal to essentialism.

Evidence

If one sets out to do a critique of metaphysics, there is no escape from the metaphysical enclosure. You cannot simply assert, “I will be anti-essentialist” and make that stick, for you cannot not be an essentialist to some degree. The critique of essentialism is predicated upon essentialism. This is why it is especially important to choose as an object of critique something which we love, or which we cannot not desire, cannot not wish to inhabit, however much we wish also to change it. — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader, 55

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to reader’s core question: whether ironic/strategic essentialism can avoid collapsing into genuine belief. Spivak’s formula ‘you cannot not be an essentialist’ suggests the collapse is unavoidable — a key premise for the whole project. — connects to: Strategic essentialism meant reusing hegemonic universals, not repudiating them. — Elizabeth Grosz, Criticism, Feminism and the…, 120; Essentializing is unavoidable even in anti-essentialist critique, so it should be deployed consciously. — Elizabeth Grosz, Criticism, Feminism and the…, 125; Essentialism used strategically remains hostage to the irreducible essentializing moment it criticizes. — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader: Selected Works of…, 1762 (+6 more)
• DEFINE: Articulates why ‘cannot not want’ is the heart of deconstruction for Spivak — essentialism as both object of critique and unavoidable condition.

Broader Connections

• Essentialism used strategically remains hostage to the irreducible essentializing moment it criticizes. #corroborates (0.90) — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader, 1762
• A critic of a central domain must stand outside its defining structures #contradicts (0.85) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 322
• One cannot not be an essentialist to some degree, even in critique. #corroborates (0.85) — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader, 55
• Immanent critique must combine internal analysis with an external social perspective #contradicts (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 52