Abstract
A commitment is often understood as a performative: it is not describing or denoting something; a commitment “commits.” But what seemed to be the case was that commitments were makeable because they were not doable: it seems you can make a commitment because commitments do not commit institutions to a course of action. Commitments might even become a way of not doing something by appearing to do something. Understanding the role or function of institutional commitments was to understand how institutions do not do things with words, or how institutions use words as a way of not doing things. I often wonder if there is an instruction manual somewhere with this as an unofficial title: Diversity, or how not to do things with words.
Recommended Citation
Ahmed, Sara
(2016)
"How Not to Do Things with Words,"
Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies: Vol. 16:
Iss.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/wagadu/vol16/iss1/1