Toward a queering of debate

Abstract

I investigate what it might mean to queer debate. I begin by isolating an impasse: queer, which is radically open, seems to be in conflict with debate, which is radically constrained. Rather than attempt to redefine either queer or debate, I approach the aforementioned question by reading it as aporia, or generative roadblock, and forward together the conflicting interpretations of queer and debate. That is, instead of trying to resolve the tension between queer and debate, I revel in the messy irresolvability of putting those two terms together. From this position, I suggest that a queer model of debate is one which is unconcerned with broad, abstract models of debate but instead embraces the contingency and contextuality of each particular debate as a starting point for a distinct educational model of this activity. My hope, then, is that debate coaches and scholars may continue pushing the boundaries of what debate may do without stepping away from its particularities and nuances.