The question of self-consciousness is indeed crucial to cultural studies.
 
On the one hand, we ought not to deny anyone's self-consciousness.
On the other hand, once we've acknowledged it and pointed to some of its
manifestations, we might run the danger of overascribing importance,
to the detriment of attending to someone's Other-consciousness.
 
Whether we ascribe or deny self-consciousness to another, or to a text,
we posit ourself as a suject who is supposed to know, and even know
something about someone else's consciousness; especially if we try to take
this position beyond basic denial or ascription, it can be problematical.
 
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