Subjectivities and Silences,Mother and Woman: Theorizing an Experience of Silence as a Speaking Subject

The article theorizes the positioning implications of a specific occasion of silence told through an autobiographical narrative. Positioning theory is discussed, as are modifications to speech act theory. These discussions raise questions concerning the social power relations that enable specific silences. The article reads an account of a mother's silence to argue that that silence may enable subject positions that marginalize or exclude the silent participant, reproduce criteria of inadmissibility or incompetence, or code some experiences as ineffable. The article also discusses silence as an effect of potentially contradictory positioning.