Can Parody Change the World? On the Philosophical and Political Aspects of Satirical Parody

Satire is to an increasing extent a part of the formation of our political consciousness. But what happens when political matters are expressed through satire? The purpose of this article is to investigate a satirical mode of expression, namely parody, in order to determine the contribution that parody lends to satire as well as making an assessment of the critical potential of parody itself. I argue that parody can be understood as an instance of Derridean deconstruction and that its critical potential lies in its ability to destabilize political assumptions that are taken for granted in our society.Satire er i stigende grad med til at forme vores politiske bevidsthed. Men hvad sker der, når politiske emner bliver formuleret igennem satire? Formålet med denne artikel er at undersøge en af de mest udbredte udtryksformer inden for politisk satire, nemlig parodi, med henblik på at afdække parodiens bidrag til satire, samt at foretage en vurdering af parodiens kritiske potentiale. Jeg argumenterer for, at parodi kan forstås som en form for dekonstruktion, og at dens kritiske potentiale ligger i dens evne til at destabilisere politiske antagelser, der bliver taget for givet i vores samfund

Identity politics and the problem of essentialism: The question of political collectives in a postmodern context

The central question that will be investigated in the scope of this article is whether or not it is possible to establish political collectives based on a postmodern, anti-essentialist ontology. The postmodern critique of essentialism makes categories such as ‘woman’ inherently suspicious but without such mobilizing categories the fight for equality for women is difficult if not impossible. I will analyze Iris Marion Young’s attempt to salvage this problem through a theory of the collective as seriality. My conclusion is that Young only manages to dislocate the problem of essentialism instead of providing a real solution to it.Det centrale spørgsmål, der vil blive behandlet i denne artikel er, hvorvidt det er muligt at skabe politiske fællesskaber på baggrund af en postmoderne, anti-essentialistisk ontologi. Den postmoderne kritik af essentialisme gør kategorier så som kategorien ’kvinde’ dybt mistænkelige, men uden sådanne mobiliserende kategorier er kampen for ligestilling for kvinder vanskelig eller sågar umulig. Jeg analyserer Iris Marion Youngs forsøg på at løse dette problem ved hjælp af en teori om fællesskab som serialitet. Jeg konkluderer, at Youngs teori kun formår at fremstille en forskydning af essentialisme-problemet i stedet for en reel løsning på det.&nbsp