Speaking Out: How to Resist with Words

Resistance against oppression can be diversely defined. Johansson and Vinthagen (2019) have posited that it is composed of the acts of subordinated people that might undermine power. Henry (2019) describes these acts as contra the forces that homogenise and confine people, aiming at liberation. These definitions broadly describe the amorphous concept of resistance as ‘acts against’. However, what are these acts? Can something as little (or as big) as speaking out be a resistant act? I argue that anti-oppressive speech can enact resistance in accordance with J.L. Austin’s theory of speech acts. While J.L. Austin’s titular task is identifying ‘How to Do Things with Words’, I will describe how to resist with words.