"Writing" As Alienation And "Reading" As Resistance—a Study On Michel De Certeau’s Practice Of Everyday Life

This thesis explores the point of departure, logic and the analytical frame of Practice of Everyday Life by Michel de Certeau, who was a French cultural theorist and historian in late20th century. On the basis of initial examination of the turning to everyday life of both western Marxism and sociology after1950s especially their attention to everyday life, I propose that the study of the practice of everyday life by Michel de Certeau lies in the intersection of both threads. On one hand, Certeau attributes the essence of alienation in everyday life to the expansion of"scriptural economy" that is characterized by practice of "writing"; On the other hand, regarding everyday life as a space constructed by everyday practice of "reading", Certeau shares concerns of social constructionist that studies how the everyday practices shape the social structure and our knowledge about society. Hence, the logic of "writing-reading" underlies Certeau’s theory on everyday practice and serves as the basis of analyzing concrete activities of everyday life. Writing, as a modern mythical practice, gradually constructs an alienated text of everyday life whereby the practice of reading is poaching and creates a new text out the old one. Applying this framework to everyday practice, Certeau describes consumption as silent production. The operation of tactics engages in the transformation of everyday power distributed by strategy and thus leads to a practice of "otherness". Then I proceed to spatial practice demonstrated by Certeau, which takes the form of walking and transformed a distributed "place" into a dynamic space. In the final part of this thesis, in comparison to the theory of"active audience" by John Fiske, I present Certeau’s emphasis on "silent otherness" of everyday practice as opposed to "revolutionary subject" investigated by Fiske, on the basis of which, I criticize the otherness of everyday practice addressed by Certeau fails to offer a cultural and historical context regarding the diversity of everyday life; and plus Certeau cannot bridge the micro-politics of everyday life to substantially political resistance that is a key factor to the redistribution of power and the political liberation.