Reversal that revalues the subordinated identity without restructuring it stays trapped in dualism
Evidence
We have seen that reversal results from the attempt to treat dualism as a simple hierarchy, and to reverse value without attending to the identity-forming functions of colonisation. Because the new identity is specified in reaction to the coloniser and still in relation to him, and has accepted wholly or partly the dualistic construction of identity, the idea that the colonised has broken free of dualised identity is an illusion. The colonised is not free to proceed independently, but affirms uncritically whatever the coloniser has made of him or her, or embraces whatever the coloniser despised and excluded. Similarly, the ‘worker’ who accepts but revalues the identity assigned in the master’s terms of production has made only an incomplete escape, and remains tied to the master’s productivist framework. These forms of affirmation ignore the way in which the colonised’s characteristics are not determined independently but are defined in relation to the master. Reversal reproduces the problem in a new form, an inadequate or incomplete movement beyond dualistic conception. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 244
Categorization
- XREF: The ‘worker’ who revalues his master-defined production role parallels critiques of revaluing nature or ‘women’s work’ without dismantling the master’s frame — relevant across all four course threads. — connects to: Rights-based inclusion admits others only insofar as they resemble the dominator — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 646; Old oppressions stored as dualisms pave the way for new ones. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 181; Dualism arises from denied dependency on a subordinated other. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 173 (+10 more)
- recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
Broader Connections
- Replacing one essentialist subject with another leaves inverted essentialism intact
#expands(0.95) - Materialism never resolves but only disguises nature dualism by a truncated reversal
#corroborates(0.85) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 452