Chiara Bottici and Judith Butler debate on "identity in times of resistance"

According to Butler, identity is “a social act that we construct at the moment we say: ‘I am this, call me this’, etc.”, and denying a person’s identity is equivalent to “denying them access to equal rights.” Therefore, they states that it is a vehicle for accessing both social recognition and exclusion. In fact, for Butler, “the greatest political identity movement” of our time is “white nationalism,” and mentioned examples of the supremacist movements in their country and the rejection of migrants who arrive to Europe by crossing the Mediterranean.

Bottici wondered aloud about the evolution of the concept of identity over time, and reflected on the fact that it is an idea that seeks to define "something that remains the same over time" when, precisely, nothing is immutable. According to the Italian thinker, "language triggers things: once you mention something, you imagine it", and in this sense she praised Butler's contribution to the idea of ​​a "patriarchal left" that belittles or avoids the question of identity. Bottici evoked the slogan of the sixties "All power to the imagination" to affirm that, currently, imagination is "in the hands of people like Donald Trump", at the service of capital and highly mediated by social networks.

Bottici also referred to the idea of ​​an overlap in the struggles for rights. By noting that reactionary movements think "that some bodies, some sexes, some races or some social classes are superior to others", we see the need for the struggles to intersect, because they are all "related". According to her, "even though I am not trans, if the rights of a trans person are violated, I must be able to see that they are part of my own freedom", and she highlighted the Butlerian idea of ​​intersectionality. Butler then provided a symbolic image of the idea on which the entire debate, entitled "Words, Bodies, Images: Rethinking Identity in Times of Resistance", revolved, stating: "There will be no revolution without dance".

The event was organised by the FemIntra research group at the UAB thanks to the Jaume Vicens Vives distinction, the M. Encarna Sanahuja Yll mention, and the Literal Fair. Lecturer Lupe Romero, from the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting of the UAB, moderated the debate, which took place in the main hall of the Casa Convalescència UAB. She emphasised how pleased she was to see such a large turnout to listen to two people who, "in addition to being academics, are thinkers in tune with social movements and activism, which means that their profiles and the knowledge they generate are very rooted in today's social problems."