Technical Specifications
- Phenomenology
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From a phenomenological perspective, decanonization is characterized by the critical reassessment of established aesthetic value judgments and cultural hierarchies. It frequently emerges through the identification and analysis of historical mechanisms of exclusion based on factors such as race, gender, class, ethnicity, or cultural origin. In practice, this process manifests itself in the revision of educational curricula, museum exhibitions, literary histories, archival collections, and institutional selection criteria. These transformations redefine the cultural visibility and perceived significance of works, authors, and artistic traditions.
- Systemics
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From a systemic perspective, decanonization constitutes a central process within reception studies and canon theory. Within this compendium, it is assigned to the main category Subject Register and the subcategory Reception. As the discursive counterpart to canonization and laureation, it examines the mechanisms through which cultural authority is negotiated, challenged, and transformed. Contemporary approaches are closely associated with postcolonial studies, gender studies, queer theory, and other critical perspectives that seek to broaden the cultural canon through more inclusive models of representation.
- Teleology
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The teleological function of decanonization is to promote a more inclusive and dynamic understanding of cultural heritage. Rather than merely rejecting established canonical works, it seeks to expand and diversify the canon by integrating previously marginalized authors, traditions, and forms of expression. Within the field of graphic literature, this process has contributed to the rediscovery of overlooked pioneers, the recognition of women creators, Indigenous and non-Western comic traditions, and alternative narrative practices. Its long-term objective is not the replacement of one canon by another, but the continuous critical re-evaluation of cultural memory and artistic significance.
References and documentation
- Bibliography
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Bloom, Harold (1994). The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. Riverhead Books.
- Digital Resources
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Guillory, J. (1993). Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation. University of Chicago Press. DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226310435.001.0001.
Editorial Metadata
- Editorial Protocol
- LUXBD a.s.b.l. | L-IDAC-9 [V1.0-AS]
- Copyright & Permissions
- LUXORR a.s.b.l. (Luxembourg Organisation For Reproduction Rights)
- Methodological Note
- Decanonization is not to be equated with "Cancel Culture" but conducted as a scholarly re-evaluation.
Decanonization describes a reflexive process within the humanities and cultural sciences, in which the selection criteria and power structures behind the formation of a "canon" are exposed and revised. Traditionally, the canon was seen as a collection of timeless masterpieces of universal validity. However, critical approaches, especially from the second half of the 20th century onwards, often exposed this selection as an expression of Western, male, and bourgeois hegemony.
In practice, decanonization does not necessarily mean the destruction of the existing, but rather its expansion and contextualization. It is about filling the gaps created by the systematic exclusion of works based on origin, gender, or social status. This process is of immense importance for graphic literature, as comics themselves led a decanonized existence on the fringes of high culture for a long time and are now undergoing similar emancipation processes within their own history.
The theoretical debate often leads to a pluralization: instead of a single, monolithic canon, multiple "canons" emerge that reflect different aesthetic and social realities. Thus, decanonization is an essential tool for a vibrant, constantly self-questioning cultural archive.
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