Subjectivity

Subjectivity is not simply a noun indicating presence, although it does refer to the subject and thus to the presence of personhood. It also arguably refers to the qualities and conditions of something being a subject, through the use of the suffix ‘-ivity’. This is because we can link the subject to phenomena through which it comes into being – such as to perspectives, feelings, beliefs and desires. We have thus seen the term subjectivity usefully engaged to emphasize increasingly the active process of be(coming) a subject rather than a static idea of simple presence (e.g. Edkins et al. 1999; Isin 2002; Malik 2016). This entry will firstly examine the importance of several key interventions in decentring the Cartesian subject of Enlightenment thought in order to understand subjectivity as an active process. It explores how these ideas have been developed in particular in postcolonial/decolonial thought through the concepts of embodiment, identification and hybridity. It will then move on to focus on creative practices linked to vernacular language and music – that are practices increasingly recognized as interventions into static and more fixed understandings about identity, belonging and community. Finally, it considers how we can understand subjects from this perspective as made by the acts they engage in rather than preexisting those acts.