KRISTEVA AND THE CHORA
Kristeva proposed a stage before that of the symbolic (which is about
language): the semiotic, where the semiotic is the mother's body and the
non-linguistic interaction of flesh, blood, milk, tears, laughter and touch
that takes place between the mother and child.
This space of the mother's body is what she terms chora. The chora is the mother's body, and occurs in the space of interaction of the mother's body and the child.
It is pre-linguistic, but still a process of
meaning-making. In order to mark its difference from the linguistic signification, Kristeva terms the chora the stage of signifiance.
POSTSTRUCTURALISM, FLOWS AND DETERRITORIALIZATION
A concept introduced by Deleuze and Guattari to describe connectivity and endless proliferation of machines, signs and power. Deterritorialization captures the postmodern–poststructuralist thinking about authority, power and space.
Deleuze and Guattari argue that machines have no centre: Their very being is in proliferation, connections and traversals of space.
Deterritorialization is the process through which the machine becomes something other than itself—a series of connections, intersections, assemblages and negotiations. It has no central self, only a series. To put it differently, a machine is an assemblage, it's self lies in being open, endless, proliferating, not closed, coherent and limited.
They distinguish between a machine and an organism. An organism is limited, self-contained and closed. A machine has its self only when it connects to something else. Its self lies in this connection with an outside, an Other.
For example, a hammer comes into being when it is used by a hand to hit a nail. Its very existence as hammer depends on this connection with the hand and the process. Otherwise, it is simply a block of wood and a metal head.
Hammer+ Nail+ Hand
Deterritorialization was also used to describe affect and emotions. Deleuze
and Guattari argued that affect constitute ‘lines of flight’, a series of affective responses that does not stay restricted to the original body or event.
Deterritorialization describes becoming, process and movement rather than finite event or thing. It is also linked to an important concept in Deleuze and Guattari, that of repetition and difference.
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