You Name It. Everyday Discrimination Through Accustomed Perception Of
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You name it?! Everyday discrimination through accustomed perception of personal names Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades doctor philosophiae (Dr. phil.) eingereicht an der Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin von Evelyn Hayn, Magistra Artium Präsidentin der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. Sabine Kunst Dekanin der Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftlichen Fakultät Prof. Dr. Julia von Blumenthal Gutachten: 1. Prof.ecs Dr.ecs Lann Hornscheidt, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 2. Prof. Dr. Mats Landqvist, Södertörns Högskola, Stockholm Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 29.11.2016 Based on a social constructivist, pragmatic cognitive understanding of naming, the study investigates the discriminatory hegemonic presuppositions and perceptions that are interpellated with personal names in Germany and Sweden. The critical lens of Black Feminist, Postcolonial, Postmigrant, Critical Trans and Disability Studies is applied in order to deconstruct current and past hegemonic naming norms. By regarding the un/intelligibility of names as constituted by intersecting power relations, racism_genderism_ableism_migratism_ classism, the dispositive model helps to identify what personal names and naming practices are made un/thinkable. Accustoming is introduced as an analytic tool to understand how hegemonic knowledge on naming is acquired and internalized in a structuralist and essentializing way. The analysis of administrative and legislative discourses demonstrates how hegemonic naming norms have been historically and institutionally accustomed. That a personal name is not only determined by institutional but also by individual decision-making is illustrated on the example of the child’s well-being, a commonly used argument for name decisions at registry offices. The feel for language as another norm to Justify de_perceived name discrimination is analyzed against the background of how sprachgefühl as an emotive concept interpellates nationalist images of the self and the Other. The final chapter addresses the consequences of discriminatory naming practices: the definition and denial of personhood. The study concludes with a collection of empowering interventions in discriminatory naming practices and recommendations for a contra_ discriminatory anti-structuralist perception of personal names. By employing a transdisciplinary approach, the study illustrates how disciplinary boundaries are transgressed and how different discourse areas and material that traditionally are investigated in law, history, linguistics and literature is integrated in Gender Studies research. Ausgehend von einem sozialkonstruktivistischen, pragmatisch-kognitiven Verständnis von Namen untersucht die Studie die diskriminierenden Wahrnehmungen, die über Personen- namen in Deutschland und Schweden aufgerufen werden. Durch Anwendung der kritischen Theorien und Zugänge der Black Feminist, Postcolonial, Postmigrant, Trans und Disability Studies auf Namensdiskurse werden gegenwärtige sowie historische hegemoniale Normen dekonstruiert. Mit Hilfe des durch intersektionale Machtverhältnisse konstituierten Dispositivmodells wird die Intelligibilität von Personennamen zur Diskussion gestellt. Vergewohnheitung (accustoming) als neues analytisches Konzept macht nachvollziehbar, wie hegemoniales Wissen zu Namensgebung auf strukturalistische und essentialisierende Weise erworben und internalisiert wird. Die Analyse administrativer und legislativer Diskurse zeigt, wie hegemoniale Namensnormen historisch und institutionell vergewohnheitet wurden. Dass ein Personenname institutionell auch durch individuelle Wahrnehmung bestimmt wird, illustriert die Analyse des ‚Kindeswohl‘, einem zentralen Argument für Namens-entscheidungen auf Standesämtern. Ein weiteres Beispiel für die Rechtfertigung ent_wahrgenommener diskriminierender Namenspraktiken ist das Sprachgefühlkonzept, dessen Verwendung daraufhin untersucht wird, inwiefern es nationalistische Vorstellungen des Eigenen und des Anderen aufruft. Schließlich wird die An- und Aberkennung von Menschsein als Konsequenz diskriminierender Namenshandlungen adressiert. Eine Sammlung empowernder Interventionen in diskriminierende Namenspraktiken sowie Empfehlungen für eine kontra_diskriminierende, antistrukturalistische Wahrnehmung von Personennamen runden die Studie ab. Mit ihrem transdisziplinären Ansatz veranschaulicht die Arbeit, wie disziplinäre Grenzen überschritten und Diskursfelder und -materialien, die traditionellerweise in den Rechts-, Geschichts-, Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften analysiert werden, in die Genderforschung integriert werden können. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 DE) Front Cover Based on Photo by Danielle Dudycha, Bad Saarow 2016 Back Cover Based on Photo by Evelyn Hayn, Bad Saarow 2016 Book Cover Design: Evelyn Hayn Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät, 2018 Content Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION: DEFINING THE SCOPE OF RESEARCH.........................................8 1.1 Theory: A Power-Sensitive Deconstructivist Approach for a Trans- and Postdisciplinary Analysis of Names.......................................................................16 1.1.1 Social constructivism.............................................................................................................................. 16 1.1.2 Pragmatic constructivist understanding of language as language use and the constitutive role of language in the making of people: Personal appellation of personal names................................................20 1.1.3 Structural discrimination and privilege.................................................................................................24 1.1.4 Dispositive of structural power relations: abjectification, default-setting & intersectionality.............32 1.2 Moving from Theory to Methodology: Conceptualizing Power as ‘Hegemonic Discourse’.............................................................................................................37 1.2.1 Deconstructing the universality myth of hegemonic knowledge production.......................................39 1.2.2 Deconstructing the objectivity myth of hegemonic knowledge production.........................................40 1.2.3 Deconstructing the neutrality myth of hegemonic knowledge production...........................................41 1.2.4 About the role of structure-oriented research.......................................................................................42 1.3 Methodology: Applying Counter-Activism.......................................................45 1.3.1 A trans- and postdisciplinary multi-voiced analysis of personal names...............................................46 1.3.2 Analyzing hegemonic naming practices through social positioning and critical self-positioning.......52 1.3.3 Analyzing hegemonic naming practices through life stories.................................................................55 1.3.4 Integrating a structure-oriented analysis of names..............................................................................58 1.3.5 Pejorization as a constructivist pragmatic-oriented analysis of hegemonic naming practices as forms of linguistic discrimination............................................................................................................................ 60 1.4 Method & Material: Identifying Hegemonic and Counter-Activist Discourses. 64 1.5 How is This Study Structured?.........................................................................69 2. GIRL OR BOY, WHERE ARE YOU FROM? GETTING ACCUSTOMED TO AND ACCUSTOMING HEGEMONIC NAMING PRACTICES.................................................73 2.1 A Sales Agent Comes By: A Random Tale of Everyday Discrimination in the Context of Naming................................................................................................74 2.2 Acquiring Personal Names. Accustoming as an Analytic Tool to Understand Ways of Getting Used to the Re_production of Hegemonic Knowledge................80 2.2.1 Acquiring social categorization: how to identify others and oneself....................................................80 2.2.2 Socializing personal names: how hegemonic naming practices are acquired, sedimented and structuralized cognitively...............................................................................................................................83 4 Content 2.3 Framing Naming – Structuring Life in Germany and Sweden: Why Hegemonic Naming Practices are Discriminatory...................................................................88 2.3.1 When migratist, racist and genderist perceptions of names constitute each other.............................89 2.3.2 When a racist perception of names is linked to the invention of a Christian Europe..........................93 2.3.3 When an explicit ableist perception of names is exceptional...............................................................95 2.3.4 When an ableist perception of names is unintelligible.........................................................................97 2.3.5 When the perception of names is classist – and migratist...................................................................99 2.3.6 When cis-binary-gendering is a statisized naming practice...............................................................102