"Dispossession: The Performative in the Political" CH 1-7

Judith Butler and Athena Athanasiou's introduction of "dispossession" as a troubling concept holds true throughout the first half of their book. They define this concept in once sense as a condition of autonomy and in another sense as painful experiences of oppression and subjectivity. In both cases, dispossession is inherently relational and ultimately unavoidable in the social world. Butler and Athanasiou comment on the inescapable and paradoxical nature of dispossession with their claim that "we can only be dispossessed because we are already dispossessed" (5). Essentially, they claim that being dispossessed is a fact of life. One aspect of their concept of dispossession that I found intriguing was the explanation of dispossession as staying in one place. The authors draw on Rosa Parks in this example, and they also touch on Palestine as another example. I found this concept related to Honig's use of the idea of "home."

Honig defines home as “a place free of power, conflict, and place—an identity, a form of life, a group vision—unmarked or unriven by difference and untouched by the power brought to bear upon it by the identities that strive to ground themselves in its place” (258). The concept of dispossession seems to relate to Honig's idea that home must be challenged and interrogated in order to establish political engagement and democratic practices. In refusing to get up from her seat, Rosa Parks challenged the idea of "home" by sitting in a place she was not "supposed" to sit. This form of resistance was a crucial part of the Civil Rights movement that led to substantive change towards democratic practices. In a different context, many Palestinians believe in the "right to return home," and that they are currently living in exile. Related to the idea of dispossession, I wonder how the concept of "home" changes if it is not the safe space that Honig describes, but rather a place of the past and idealized place in the future. It seems that populations would have the autonomy being dispossessed creates at "home," but in both of these examples, Rosa Parks and Palestinians are seeking that autonomy by leaving home (staying on the bus/hoping to return to occupied land).