Left vs. Right. Pro-choice vs. Pro-Life. Pro-vaccine vs. Anti-vaccine. I always get a little weary when complex issues become reduced to binaries, as if those are the only two choices. Most of the time, binaries exist when there is a limitation of options or when your options stand to be limited. Because we are inundated with binaries in our lives, it’s important to know how these narratives shape our thoughts. In this episode, Shannon introduces and gives a brief history of binary oppositions. We have felt pulled towards the relevance of this concept and its application in contextualizing some of the prevailing mainstream narratives both politically and socially. Hope you enjoy this episode!

Show notes 

00:16:25- Intro music 

00:17:58- What is binary opposition?

00:19:07- Quick history- 

 Ferdinand de Saussure: Structuralism- language as a binary code

 Jacques Derrida: Post structualism -Deconstructing binaries

00:26:31- The narrative of colonialism -duality as a means to incite -binarry narrative

Postcolonialism

00:29:06- Spoiler alert 

00:35:40- Michael Malice: Anarchist Handbook

00:38:20- Derek Walcott: Pantomime

00:43:20- Why do you favor one over the other?

00:46:30- Dividing by columns

00:51:10- Binary reenforced 

00:53:10- Gender non-binary  

Judith Butler: Leading Queer Theory scholar

01:00:53- Political non-binary 

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