Situation/Situatedness in Humanities: a Response.

Alya Khairunnisa

Aoife Buckley

Dorien van Gerven

Martin van den Hogen

In “Situation/Situatedness in Humanities: a Response”, Buckley, van Gerven, van den Hogen, and Khairunnisa form a response to Van der Tuin and Verhoeff’s entry on “Situation/Situatedness” in Critical Concepts for the Creative Humanities (2022) from four different disciplines. The essay explores how Situatedness is seen, applied, and can be useful in the fields of Linguistics, History, Literature, and Media and Culture. By applying the term to focus on the voices of the subaltern, voices historically suppressed because of their situatedness, this essay explores the benefits and drawbacks of the term. It specifically focuses on how the ambiguity of the term both helps it spread and holds it back at the same time.

Introduction

In this essay, the term “situation/situatedness” as used by Critical Concepts for the Creative Humanities (van der Tuin & Verhoeff, 2022)  will be evaluated and critiqued. 

This term is illustrated by the book with the following passage:  “A perspective on people, things, events, or processes as situated, as emerging or taking place within (and as) a situation opens us up to analyses of (often globalised) structures of power, on the one hand, and of local deviations from or variations within the norm, on the other” (2022, 173).

In order to understand the term independently from the book, the term will be evaluated at various levels. The term will first be evaluated within individual mono-disciplinary fields. This will be done using the fields of history, literature, media and culture, and linguistics. After this, the term will be put in a multi-disciplinary perspective by discussing the shared conceptual space for the term between the fields. The term will then be used to look at creative practices to compare academic and non-academic usage. Finally, a critique of the term will be made regarding the usability and necessity of the term “situation/situatedness”.

History

In the academic discipline of history, situatedness is linked heavily with the rise of social history and the historiographical turn of the 1960s. Situatedness deals with events/objects in their time/place, their entanglements, and the connotations of these events to the spectator. How the spectator engages with the event gives way to historiography and the way that historians describe the past. Historiography is the history of history and the evolution of the way historians view the past. The 1960s saw a radical historiographical turn, with the increasing prevalence of social history, and viewing the past from the bottom up (Maza, 34).  No longer was there such precedence of “great man” history- ie, instead of viewing the past from the actions of the social elite,  the focus was on the experience of the day to day experiences of the average person. The rise of social history places situating the past, and our understanding of it in a broader context and impact of events on society, lending a more hermeneutic situatedness of events. The intertwinedness of the academic discipline of history and situation/situatedness goes beyond just the rise of social history, and the shifting emphasis of people, social groups, and power in their situatedness in history. The very where of what history details reflects the complexity of situation/situatedness in historiography. The ‘where’ of history, the placement of events, has largely been the framework of the nation (Maza, 45). The prevalence and interest in national histories have dominated the field, and historians are trained often to write the history of what national units are deemed politically important (Maza, 46). Breaking free from this geo-political package of situating history within the nation is that of Atlantic slave trade history. Putting the Atlantic Ocean as the geographical focus of Atlantic slave trade history, rather than individual nations, situates the history in a panoramic, transnational lens, changing the interaction and experience of confronting this past (Maza, 59). Situating this history outside of a national centrality allows for the connotation of the events to the spectator to glean a more interconnected, more systemic view, understanding the scale of such events, and challenging the traditional lens in which history is situated.

Literature

In literature, namely in critical theory, situatedness is most obviously named in decoloniality. It should be mentioned that situatedness can be found in a variety of branches of literature, but for the sake of brevity, we only focus on decoloniality here. Decolonial theorist Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni defines decoloniality as “studying Africa as a product of 350 years of struggles against slavery in the first instance and against coloniality today” (2023, 13). Though postcolonialism is a fact in the modern world, meaning no countries are currently being colonised in the traditional sense of the word, coloniality is far from being eradicated. To see how situatedness connects to decolonial theory, it is first important to show how the term is comparable to the decolonial term “locus of enunciation”. As read in Critical Concepts for the Creative Humanities, situatedness works in two directions: “A perspective on people, things, events, or processes as situated, as emerging or taking place within (and as) a situation opens us up to analyses of (often globalised) structures of power, on the one hand, and of local deviations from or variations within the norm, on the other” (2022, 173). Especially the first half of this sentence is important to us since it highlights the importance of spotting the situatedness of a person, thing, event, or process.

In his critical piece “The Epistemic Decolonial Turn” (2007), Ramón Grosfoguel defines a locus of enunciation as “the geo-political and body-political location of the subject that speaks” (2007, 213), immediately adding that “[i]n Western philosophy and sciences the subject that speaks is always hidden, concealed, erased from the analysis. The ‘ego-politics of knowledge’ of Western philosophy has always privilege the myth of a nonsituated ‘Ego’” (2007, 213). In other words, the colonial powers have long tried to make it seem like anything coming out of their academic sphere is in fact not situated anywhere, but instead an objective fact. Thus, situatedness, or in other words the discovery of the locus of enunciation, is a crucial part of decoloniality.

In practice, we can see a shift from colonial writing such as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and Willem Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe to decolonial writing, like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. In the former, the African population is often described as “Savages”, and seen as a mysterious “other”, especially in Heart of Darkness. In Purple Hibiscus, the story follows a young girl who breaks away from the oppressive coloniality of her family and finds the beauty of Ugandan customs and the Igbo language. 

Media and Culture

The question of situatedness is ever-embedded and increasingly contested in the field of media and culture. Where ‘media’ refers to the significance of product, form, and techniques; the latter ‘culture’ contributes by explaining the ways in which it relies on audience interpretation in order to create an effect. As the discipline develops, however, media scholars have created new terms to further describe sub-categories of situatedness often specific to a certain media form. For instance, Donna Haraway argues against a binary definition of ‘The Gaze’ in media analyses, proposing that the act of looking cannot exist in a vacuum, later coining ‘Partial Perspective’ in opposition (Haraway, 1988). That is, acknowledgment of one’s interpretation limited by their identity and the consequences it might entail and “… simultaneously an account of radical historical contingency for all knowledge claims and knowing subjects, a critical practice for recognizing our own “semiotic technologies” for making meanings…” (1988, 580). An example of this phenomenon, especially in relation to commercial media products, is Roland Robertson’s ‘Glocalisation’ (Robertson, 1992).

Glocalisation is defined as the act of changing the form or content of a product in order to better satisfy the wants and needs of a certain socio-geographical market. To illustrate, take Amsterdam’s Wereld Museum as an example; the exhibition of Southeast Asian artifacts, African culture, and Middle Eastern art is constructed with the assumption of a European target audience in mind. The museum attempts to shed light on the historical connotations of facilitating its objects and suggests a neo-liberal view towards the ‘consumption’ of its showing in (presumably) an attempt to cater to audiences aware or in the opinion that doing so is unfair. To place in a digital media form, the hashtag #GiveArashiHerPronounsBack on Twitter facilitates English-speaking fans’ protest of the erasure of feminine pronouns for a transgender female character in a Japanese game may also be an example of Glocalisation. This discourse concerns discrepancies in target and actual audience, translation, as well as socio-geographical differences in gender and queer expression; wherein the character’s identity may be interpreted in different manners as a consequence. However, as Haraway argues, the European, neo-liberal, English-speaking, or Japanese ‘Gaze’ in this case is neither an objective nor singular perspective. Thus why, as Henry Jenkins proposes with his term ‘Textual Poaching’, media are not consumed passively anymore, and its meaning on how it reflects the world is constantly struggled, debated, and subverted (Jenkins, 2014).

Linguistics

The concept of ‘situation/situatedness’ does not seem to be discussed by linguists overtly but the concept is incorporated in the field. This is interesting because Critical Concepts for the Creative Humanities introduces the term by looking at Glissant and his impact on the study of language and culture. It claims that by taking the situation into account, it becomes possible to ask important, critical questions (2022, 175).

A paper by Doreleijers & Swanenberg (2023) studied a trend in the Netherlands on the platform TikTok. This trend was studied because it revolved around a song that uses speech markers of the Brabantish dialect in a non-traditional way. Rather than constraining itself to purely linguistic analysis, the paper broadens its perspective to get a more holistic understanding of the trend’s popularity and the position of the Brabantish dialect.

Because of this, a complex picture of the dialect emerges. Young people use non-traditional dialect forms because they are, by and large, not native speakers of the dialect. This is because Standard Dutch is a more prestigious language variant and is thus more likely to be taught to young children. Young people from the region of Noord-Brabant incorporate these Brabantish markers into their use of Dutch to signal group identity. This regional dialect is inextricably linked to history, culture, power, and the concept of the Dutch language. This paper demonstrates that taking the situation into account allows for a deeper understanding.

This prompts the question as to why linguists do not use the term “situation”, despite it seeming vital to research. The book gives us an answer to this question by saying: “The method of studying from very concrete situations upward, instead of from highly abstracted settings downward, extends beyond the field of postcolonial studies that has canonized the work of Glissant.” (2022, 173). Linguists do not require the term “situation” to structure their research or critically engage with the field and its subjects. This is because linguists work descriptively, conducting research as described in the quote above.
This method arguably goes back to structuralists like Saussure who differentiated between “langue” (the abstract language system) and “parole” (the language people actually use) roughly eighty years before Glissant’s mentioned work (Saussure, 2017). This means that working descriptively foregoes the need for a specific term like “situation/situatedness”.

Evaluation

By defining situatedness in varying disciplines, an evaluation of its application may then be highlighted in order to assess the ways in which Critical Concepts for the Creative Humanities explains and suggests the manner it can be used. This may firstly be done by examining the similarities and differences of its definition in each discipline and seeing the contrasts it may create when comparing it to the book’s explanation. In both literature and media and culture, situatedness can be used to question the position and intention of an artwork’s producer. After addressing so, this may enable a closer investigation of how it creates a certain interpretation in the consumers’ knowledge and understanding. This is different from how it may manifest in linguistics; the aforementioned case study shows how it focuses more on real-life power relations implied in the use and development of language. An analysis of media and culture may lead to the same conclusion but is limited to the ‘world’ represented within a media object. With that said, however, it is similar to history’s application, wherein it investigates the relationship between the spectator and the knowledge created in ‘consuming’ events or objects. Therefore it may be seen how Verhoeff and Tuin’s definition of situatedness is broad enough to be able to encompass all uses and application of the term.

When comparing situatedness in the aforementioned fields, we can see that all of them are concerned with the place, physical or mental, of the subaltern in relation to the superior. An example that binds all four of the disciplines together is the novel Purple Hibiscus, written by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie. In this novel, a Nigerian girl learns to appreciate her position (or situation) in Nigeria, even though her father is very much a product of coloniality; he prefers the family to speak English, instead of their native language Igbo. This is comparable with the example in linguistics given above, though in reverse. People previously shamed for speaking Igbo will now start to learn it again, whereas the number of Brabantish speakers is currently decreasing. The book also connects to the section of literature named above. It is a story that consciously fights against the colonial mindset and celebrates native practices. It calls attention to the contemporary issues still arising due to the events of the past. 

On the other hand, there are still examples today of institutions and events where situatedness plays a more negative role. As we have discussed in the paragraph on situatedness in history, it is important to look past country borders and one’s own experiences when discussing events of the past. The Wereldmuseum in Amsterdam is an example of a Western institution that attempts to bypass these borders, by showing artefacts from all over the world in this museum. However, this museum still caters to the Western gaze the “average” Dutch customer probably has and is thus still heavily situated in the Netherlands. This makes it so that the nations and cultures whose colonial past the museum is highlighting instead become just that; countries that were colonised by the Dutch. In the museum, these themes and subjects become quite literally objectified. By the producer’s attempt to cater to their target audience, that is, spectators with a European gaze, non-European visitors’ identities and possible interpretations contributed to by their situatedness are not addressed.

Collective Argument

As has been established, the term “situation” can be applied within various fields. Still, as the example of linguistics demonstrates, the ability to use the term does not constitute a necessity for it. To assess the term on usability and necessity, a critical lens must be applied. The following questions will set out criteria that aim to test the term on these matters.

1. Does the term facilitate discussion of the subject matter or are there alternatives that are better suited to the subject matter?
2. Is the term confusing to a layperson?
3. Is the term broad enough to be used in various contexts?
4. Is the term sufficiently narrow and rich in meaning such that it adds a meaningful insight into the subject matter?

1.            The term “situation” deals with a rather abstract notion, not unlike the open-ended meaning of the colloquial term “situation”. Linguists can ignore the term by substituting the abstract umbrella term for its concrete constituent parts and by focusing on the process of research. 

As has been demonstrated, though, this is not the case for other fields. Those who study history, literature, or media and culture often discuss the totality of a certain subject and thus need a term to reflect this. Focusing on constituent parts rather than the totality would risk misunderstanding the subject matter. It can therefore be concluded that the term “situation” facilitates discussion and that alternatives would be insufficient.

2.           The word “situation”, as mentioned above, has a colloquial meaning in addition to the academic one. For the term to be sufficiently usable, the meanings must either be close enough to one another to avoid confusion or be different enough that it is disambiguated in its context. 

Both terms are rather open-ended and flexible in meaning. The main difference is that the academic term refers to a specific abstract concept whereas the colloquial term does not. It can therefore be concluded that the term may create confusion to a layperson as they may overextend the academic term.

3.           As has been demonstrated by the subjects in the fields of history, literature, and media and culture, the term “situation” can be used in various contexts. It can be concluded that the term is sufficiently broad. 
4.           The term “situation” cannot be as narrow in meaning as the word “chair” because it refers to an abstract concept. To judge the term on its specificity and semantic richness, it is therefore useful to ask whether it can be used effectively in isolation. This does not seem possible. When the term is used, a scope is also defined for it. The discussion becomes useful when the term is grounded by its context, highlighting its relevance and effects. 

It may therefore seem like the term is not narrow enough to be usable. This is, however, not the case. By letting the context provide the relevance and scope of the term, one can discuss the totality of the subject without needing to mention all constituent parts of it.

In conclusion, while the term may create some confusion, it seems to be an important and versatile tool within the humanities.

Conclusion

The term “situation/situatedness” as used by Critical Concepts for the Creative Humanities (2022) analysed through a lens from history, literature, media and culture, and linguistics reveals the interdisciplinary impact of the term’s importance. Situation/situatedness serves to examine the importance of perspective, relations of power, and the positioning and representation of subjects. Historians emphasize situation/situatedness especially through the importance of perspective when analyzing the past, and the relationship between subject and event, as exemplified by Atlantic vs national perspectives when discussing the Atlantic slave trade. Literary scholars, especially through decoloniality, examine situation/situatedness with structures of power. Media and culture studies highlights the rising importance of audience interpretation, and situating media in the context of outside perspectives. Linguistics utilises the term in its studies through the importance of contextualization allowing for depth of understanding. In both critical literature and creative practice, the term “situation/situatedness” proves to be an invaluable guide for critical inquiry and a catalyst for deeper insights into the intricacies between the situated and the contextual.

References

Doreleijers, K., & Swanenberg, J. (2023). Putting local dialect in the mix: Indexicality and

stylization in a TikTok challenge. Language & Communication, 92, 1-14.

Grosfoguel, Ramón. 2007. “The Epistemic Decolonial Turn: Beyond Political-Economy Paradigms.” Cultural Studies 21 (2–3): 211–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601162514.

Haraway, Donna. 1988. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the 

Privilege of Partial Perspective” Feminist Studies 14 (3): 575 – 599

Jenkins, Henry. 2014. “Textual Poachers.” The Fan Fiction Studies Reader 29: 128 – 153.

Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. 2023. “Why Decoloniality in the 21st Century?” The Thinker 48 (2): 10–15.

Maza, Sarah. Thinking About History. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017)

Robertson, Roland. 1992. “The Consequences of Modernity.” Globality and Modernity 9 (2): 

153 – 161

de Saussure, F. 2017. Course in General Linguistics. In Macat Library eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781912281732 

Tuin, Iris van der, and Nanna Verhoeff. 2022. Critical Concepts for the Creative Humanities. Lanham Boulder New York London: Rowman & Littlefield.