GENDER STUDIES: A REFLECTION ON CATEGORIES AND RELATIONS (original) (raw)

What is the definition, the value and the use of gender studies for what I am experiencing and/or studying at the moment? In this paper, I would like to reflect on categories and relations. I will refer to Judith Butler's essay "Gender Trouble" in order to show how we don't need a systematic philosophy and a strict categorization to describe ourselves and the reality. Then, I will analyze how each philosopher we studied in class, Judith Butler, Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway and Sara Ahmed, refers to relations, in order to reflect on why relations are so important not only in gender studies, but more in general in the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us. The point of this paper is to show how the deconstruction of a structural philosophy could help us to reduce the number of people which are inevitably excluded from a structured system.