Queer theory impossible

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay examines the institutional construction of “queer theory” as a field in the United States and its translation and subsequent failure outside the U.S. Despite presenting itself as a critical field of inquiry, queer theory has been centered in the most privileged institutions in the global North, primarily in the U.S. I investigate how U.S.-centric queer theory has built upon the international division between “theory” and “case,” rooted in colonial science and knowledge production, particularly in relation to sexuality and race. To address these issues, I analyze the controversy surrounding the publication and translation of the edited volume, Queer Korea, from Duke University Press’s acclaimed Perverse Modernities series, focusing on research ethics and hegemonic whiteness. I argue that this controversy demonstrates how contemporary U.S.-centric queer theory appropriates and capitalizes on the language of “decentering,” “provincializing,” or “decolonizing” at the expense of marginalized queer lives, struggles, and knowledge outside the U.S.