Book contents
- Qualitative Studies of Silence
- Qualitative Studies of Silence
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: A Turn to Silence
- 1 Literal and Metaphorical Silences in Rhetoric: Examples from the Celebration of the 1974 Revolution in the Portuguese Parliament
- 2 Seeing Silenced Agendas in Medical Interaction: A Conversation Analytic Case Study
- 3 Listening to the Sound of Silence: Methodological Reflections on Studying the Unsaid
- 4 Social Silences: Conducting Ethnographic Research on Racism in the Americas
- 5 Intimate Silences and Inequality: Noticing the Unsaid through Triangulation
- 6 Silence in the Court: Moral Exclusion at the Intersection of Disability, Race, Sexuality, and Methodology
- 7 Silencing Self and Other through Autobiographical Narratives
- 8 Gendering the Unsaid and the Unsayable
- 9 The Language Ideology of Silence and Silencing in Public Discourse
- 10 Propaganda by Omission: The Case of Topical Silence
- 11 Silencing Whistleblowers
- 12 Between Sound and Silence: The Inaudible and the Unsayable in the History of the First World War
- 13 Affect and the Unsaid: Silences, Impasses, and Testimonies to Trauma
- 14 The Unsaid and the Unheard
- 15 Conclusion: Topographies of the Said and Unsaid
- Index
- References
8 - Gendering the Unsaid and the Unsayable
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 June 2019
Book contents
- Qualitative Studies of Silence
- Qualitative Studies of Silence
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: A Turn to Silence
- 1 Literal and Metaphorical Silences in Rhetoric: Examples from the Celebration of the 1974 Revolution in the Portuguese Parliament
- 2 Seeing Silenced Agendas in Medical Interaction: A Conversation Analytic Case Study
- 3 Listening to the Sound of Silence: Methodological Reflections on Studying the Unsaid
- 4 Social Silences: Conducting Ethnographic Research on Racism in the Americas
- 5 Intimate Silences and Inequality: Noticing the Unsaid through Triangulation
- 6 Silence in the Court: Moral Exclusion at the Intersection of Disability, Race, Sexuality, and Methodology
- 7 Silencing Self and Other through Autobiographical Narratives
- 8 Gendering the Unsaid and the Unsayable
- 9 The Language Ideology of Silence and Silencing in Public Discourse
- 10 Propaganda by Omission: The Case of Topical Silence
- 11 Silencing Whistleblowers
- 12 Between Sound and Silence: The Inaudible and the Unsayable in the History of the First World War
- 13 Affect and the Unsaid: Silences, Impasses, and Testimonies to Trauma
- 14 The Unsaid and the Unheard
- 15 Conclusion: Topographies of the Said and Unsaid
- Index
- References
Summary
Rhetorical silences are not created equal. To determine the import of the unsaid, the power differential of gender (as conceptualized by gender theory) is methodologically indispensable. “Masculinity” and “femininity,” concepts related to presumptions of domination and subordination, affect the rhetorical function of the unsaid. Permitted-to-speak bodies are often already empowered; for them, the unsaid denotes and maintains their masculinist power. Subordinate bodies, from whom silence is expected, perform simply another iteration of a regulatory, disciplinary norm that considers them feminine or weak. Nevertheless, the gendering of dominant and subordinate roles does not erase the subversive possibilities of the unsaid. The masculine unsaid may be stripped of its power if an alternative hierarchy is introduced to challenge tacit assumptions of dominance. Meanwhile, the feminine unsaid may become a tool that defies hegemonic power structures by using the unsaid as a tactic for conveying forbidden ideas, stubbornly communicating the unsayable. Categories of the “masculine” unsaid, the subordinate unsaid, and the resistant unsaid offer valuable classifications for developing a comprehensive methodology of the unsaid. Yet these categories are not comprehensive within themselves or neatly discrete from one another. Rather, they are permeable, in constant engagement and renegotiation with one another.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Qualitative Studies of SilenceThe Unsaid as Social Action, pp. 147 - 164Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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