Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 08:27:13 -0600
From: "A. Sarah Hreha" <hreh0001-AT-tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: Help with translation


"White person,
>adult male etc. Majority implies a state of dominance, not the contrary.
>The point is not whether there are more mosquitoes or flies than men but
>that "man" has set up a standard in the universe."  
>

"white-man, adult-male, etc.  Majority implies a state of domination, not
the reverse.  It is not a question of knowing whether there are more
mosquitos or flies than men, but of knowing how "man" constituted a
standard in the universe in relation to which men necessarily
(analytically) form a majority.  The majority in a government presupposes
the right to vote, and not only is established among those who possess that
right but is exercised over those who do not, however great their numbers;
similarly, the majority in the universe assumes as pregiven the right and
power of man. 80  In this sense women, children, but also animals, plants,
and molecules, are minoritarian.  It is perhaps the special situation of
women in relation to the man-standard that accounts for the fact that
becomings, being minoritarian, always pass through a becoming-woman.  It is
important not to confuse "minoritarian,: as a becoming process, with a
"minority", as an aggregate or a state.  Jews, Gypsies, etc., may
constitute minorities under certain conditions, but that in itself does not
make them becomings.  One reterritorializes, or allows oneself to be
reterritorialized, on a minority as a state; but in a becoming, one is
deterritorialized.  Even blacks, as the Black Panthers said, must
become-black.  Even women must become-woman.  Even Jews must become-Jewish
(it certainly takes more than a state).  But if this is the case, then
becoming-Jewish necessarily affects the non-Jew as much as the Jew.
Becoming-woman necessarily affects men as much as women.  In a way, the
subject in a becoming is always "man," but only when he enters a
becoming-minoritarian that rends him from hiw major identity."  [p. 291]

A Thousand Plateaus
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
Translation and Foreward by Brian Massumi
University of Minnesota Press
Sixth printing, 1996


I hope this helps...



*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
A. Sarah Hreha		         
Dept of Spanish and Portuguese
University of Minnesota
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

  "En un momento dado me detuve 
   a fumar un cigarrillo y a pensar.
   Ese fue mi error."  Sergi Puertas