Minor History Defined by Branden Joseph
Branden W. Joseph introduces the concept of minor history in the first chapter of his book Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts After Cage (Joseph, 2011). He uses this concept to place Conrad’s art in a theoretical perspective grasping his endeavors as politically and historically significant and challenging. In doing so, he elaborates on the concept of minor literature invoked by Deleuze and Guattari.
Deleuze and Guattari consider minor literature as a concept that reveals a particular language that develops and lives by itself within another major language. Joseph well states it: the minor “is not the qualitatively or quantitatively inferior, but what is marked by an irreducible or uncontainable difference. It is not a subcategory or subsystem in a conventional sense, but what Deleuze and Guattari term at one point an “outsystem” (hors-système)” (Joseph, 2011, p.50). This feature of minor history leads to the erosion of a linear perspective.
Deleuze and Guattari offer some remarkable characteristics of the minor. First, a high coefficient of deterritorialization, in other words, a high level of restrictions on those who use such language, those situations in which minor language becomes relevant, and the very architectonics of the language. These features are highly limited in comparison with the major language. The second characteristic is the high level of politicization. As Joseph (2011) states, a minor history “opens categories to their outside, onto a field of historical contingencies and events that’s is never homogeneous and that is always political” (p. 52). The third characteristic is collective value: a writer of minor literature (like an orator, philosopher, or politician) always expresses a collective interest, speaks for groups of people, and opposes the dominant major literature.
Joseph (2011) extrapolates this conception of minor history to the field of exploratory sounds and develops it further in the study of Tony Conrad’s peripatetic engagements in multidisciplinary trajectories. Conrad’s minimalism and conceptual art challenged various modes of power of both established institutions and newly emerging networks of suppression and control. Joseph’s concept of minor history grasps his work and style as an opposing and challenging discourse.
Analysis of Barbara Kruger’s I Shop Therefore I Am
The theme touched upon in one of the most famous works of Barbara Kruger I Shop, Therefore I Am is consumerism. She draws attention to the fact that modern people are obsessed with shopping and do not tend to reflect on their buying habits. Noteworthy is the simplicity of Kruger’s style, and this simplicity is likely intentional. Art should be understood not only by a narrow circle of specialists, an average viewer should also be able to understand and feel it, regardless of their level of education. Using a totalitarian language, she undermines its foundation and calls for getting out of the widespread manipulation of captivity.
Her works indeed turned into slogans for political campaigns. At demonstrations to protest against Bush’s anti-abortion law, her poster was carried over a photograph of George W. Bush: “For life for the unborn” and “For death for those born” (Cohen, 2018). This makes her work a minor history: it is a discursive practice of undermining a major route of history from the OutSystems, hors-système, of symbols and messages.
Reflection Form
One thing I did well in my writing is the linkage of the minor history concept with the analysis of Kruger’s work: “it is a discursive practice of undermining a major route of history from the OutSystems, hors-système, of symbols and messages”. One thing I would like to improve is my understanding of Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophical concepts to provide a better explanation of what a minor history is. To flow my paper better, I would like to read more works related to the analysis of Joseph’s concept of minor history. Some strong concepts in my writing are “discourse”, “power”, and “challenge”. These concepts form the core of my understanding of Benjamin’s minor history. My goal for the next paper is to link the essay with the present context.
References
Cohen, A. (2018). Barbara Kruger revisits a 40-year-old series that’s as relevant as ever. Artsy. Web.
Joseph, B. W. (2011). What Is a Minor History? In Beyond the dream syndicate: Tony Conrad and the arts after cage (pp. 11–58). Zone Books.