8/11/2019 Abstract for CADAAD 2014 (Carlos R. Lopes)

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Ethical (self-)constitution of the subject and the performance of identity on social networks

ABSTRACT: We presently observe the increasing affirmation of a conception of subjectivity in which the

way we perceive ourselves as subjects is forged in situated social practices often materiali!ed at the level of

discourse while always implying power relations" Such practices circumscribe an e#periential space within

which we become $accessible$ to ourselves and to others as subjects and objects of action %nowledge and

control" &owever far from being a neutral and static space which we inhabit and observe through objective

lenses it is rather a dynamic space which ta%es shape in the processes activities and relationships thatunfold in or by it" 'n a dual movement this space constitutes the subjects while simultaneously subjecting

those that are constituted by the practices" Based on such assumptions this paper discusses the partial results

of a study on the (self)*constitution of the subject in times when identity practices are increasingly being

enacted through social networ% profiles" We are interested in reflecting on how the ethics of existence as

outlined by +oucault in his later wor%s finds a possible performance locuson such networ%s" We investigate

how the regular practice of updating and (re)*visiting profiles constitutes a form of criticism,-uestioning of

previously established codes and regulations and how it would be constituted as a wor% of an ethical nature"

'n particular we propose thin%ing of such discursively materiali!ed practices as a form of dislocating the

social historical and cultural conditions that determine what can,should be said about whatever is being saidin a given environment and conte#t" +or this analysis we use +oucault.s wor% on ethics and subjectivity as a

theoretical framewor%" Still little studied in its relations with +rench /iscourse Analysis in the tradition of

0ichel 12cheu# the period %nown as the late +oucault points to a wide field of investigations" Thus we

initially propose a brief outline of the main issues addressed by the +rench philosopher in that period in

order then to proceed to a preliminary discussion of a corpusconsisting of posts and comments published on

the +aceboo% page of a renowned Bra!ilian intellectual in mid)3453"

678 W9R/S: self)constitution of the subject performance of identity ethics of e#istence social networ%s

R7+7R7;C7S:

B7R;A 0A&9; 0" (344?* @+oucaults 7thical 'magination" 'n: