“Positionality” and “Performativity”

Feminist theory and gender studies’ contributions to the construction of the concept of media literacy

Abstract

Over the last few decades, educational reforms have been carried out in many different countries with the aim of expanding the concept of literacy in order to respond to challenges posed by the mass media and the new technologies of information and communication technologies and thus was born the concept of media literacy. Even though some activists consider this kind of education a human right, there is still no consensus over its meaning or even over what objectives such educational policy should seek. This paper aims, therefore, to clarify the most important current debates on the area, to emphasize media literacy’s role in improving the quality of people’s political participation in today’s democracies and to highlight important contributions from feminist theories and gender studies in the construction of this concept, such as the concepts of “positionality” (as developed by Linda Alcoff) and of “performativity” (as proposed by Judith Butler).