Deconstruction

Jacques Derrida: French philosopher and founder of Deconstruction. His ideas and writings are central to Deconstruction.

Logocentrism: The belief that language is the source of all meaning and truth.

Binary opposition: The idea that meaning is created through the opposition of two terms, such as good vs. evil, male vs. female, etc.

Center/margin: The idea that power and authority are concentrated at the center, while those on the margins are excluded or marginalized.

Differance: The idea that meaning is constantly deferred and unstable, and cannot be fixed or absolute.

Textuality: The idea that language is embodied in texts, whether written or spoken, and that meaning is created through the interaction of texts.

Deconstructionist reading: A method of literary analysis that seeks to expose the contradictions and inconsistencies within a text, and to reveal the underlying assumptions and ideologies.

The deconstructive gesture: The act of questioning and subverting the texts, ideas, and institutions that uphold the dominant discourse.

Speech/writing binary: The belief that speech is more natural and authentic than writing, and the distinction between the two is used to enforce hierarchies of power and privilege.

Otherness: The idea that the Other, or the marginalized, is excluded from the dominant discourse and must be incorporated and valued in order to disrupt the binary oppositions that perpetuate inequality.

Binary deconstruction: This type of deconstruction involves analyzing and questioning binary oppositions within a text (such as good/bad, male/female, white/black) to reveal how they are intertwined and constructed.

Logocentrism deconstruction: This type of deconstruction addresses the idea of 'logocentrism' that places the word as the only source of meaning, revealing the limitations on how we understand texts and meaning.

Metafictional deconstruction: In this type of deconstruction, authors use their writing to expose the mechanics of fiction writing, such as plot devices and other tools, to expose the nature of writing and storytelling.

Historiographic deconstruction: This type of deconstruction points out how narratives of history shape the way we understand events and people.

Deconstruction of Identity: This type of Deconstruction addresses questions of identity, such as gender, race, sexuality, etc., and examines how these categories are constructed and represented through language.

Radical Deconstruction: This type of deconstruction aims to subvert the whole structure of the text and its traditional interpretations.