AUTOTHEORY: FROM EMBODIMENT TO SOCIAL ACTIVISM

Abstract

This paper positions autotheory as a transdisciplinary and transmedial artistic practice that enables the embodiment of theory and its enactment through the body. By analyzing selected works of Adrian Piper, Meggie Nelson, Chris Kraus, and Johanna Hedva, the paper explores how autotheory engages with identity, feminist critique, and embodied experiences of sexuality, illness, pain, grief, and trauma.
The genealogy of autotheory, though formally named in Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts (2015), can be traced back to hybrid practices that merge personal narrative with theoretical discourse, from postmodern autobiographical writing to feminist theory. Lauren Fournier conceptualizes autotheory as the integration of self with philosophy or theory in ways that are direct, performative, and self-reflexive.
Case studies illustrate the diverse modalities of autotheoretical practice: Piper’s Food for the Spirit (1971) enacts theory through bodily discipline and performance; Kraus’s I Love Dick (1997) interweaves erotic desire and theoretical critique; Nelson’s The Argonauts (2015) integrates theory with embodiment, relationality, and care; while Hedva’s Sick Woman Theory (2016) positions vulnerability and illness as sites of political resistance. Together, these works demonstrate how autotheory amplifies marginalized voices and invisible bodies and allows taboo themes to be unpacked and liberated.
Finally, the paper situates autotheory within contemporary digital and activist contexts, including online manifestos and digital content, where critically framed personal testimony becomes a collective political tool. Autotheory thus emerges not only as an artistic or literary mode, but as a method of knowledge production and a strategy of resistance, inviting both personal and social transformation.