Writing

In the previous section, I attempted to show that the indeterminacy of a gaze which seeks to realize its desire within a boundless space threatens the integrity of the subject, threatens communication and representation, and is therefore a very real threat to the social order. I also claimed that the way out of this dilemma is envisaged by colonial discourse as a commitment to spatial order. This is defined in terms of fixed boundaries and privileged passages between spaces. The European subject gazing onto a strange object, looking across a strange space, is thus forced to adopt a manner of looking which can serve as an initial ordering of space. In this chapter, I aim to show that the force which renders the indeterminate gaze of desire suitable for the process of colonization is a force which proliferates as writing - in the widest sense of the word. This is quite simply the necessity of developing a representational technique for ensuring that any specific individual positions of subjectivity are appropriated in the service of universal representation.