Queer Concepts Research Articles

Touches across time: queer as provenance

Carolyn Dinshaw describes her queer historical practice as being about looking for “an affective connection, for community, for even a touch across time” (1999, p 21). Queer engagements with records—these touches across time—are not easily or adequately accounted for in current conceptualisations of provenance. The dissonance between how we currently understand record co-creation, and the historical perspectives and recordkeeping needs of queer users, substantially and negatively impacts the visibility and accessibility of queer histories in institutional archival settings. In this paper, I articulate the proposed concept of queer as provenance. I argue that we must extend our current conceptualisation of multiple provenance beyond mere co-creatorship. With a focus on queer records and record users, I argue that we must expand our understanding to encapsulate not only the relationship between record, creator, and subject, but also the relationship between record, creator, subject, and user. Through a continuum lens, I consider how queer/ing engagements and interactions with, and responses to, queer records could and should inform our descriptive practices, and explore the potential of considering queer users as co-creators within such a dynamic. I conclude by articulating queer as provenance and consider its potential as a foundation on which transformative, reparative, and liberatory archival practices might be built.

Caging and Uncaging Pride: Di(s)visibility and the Borders of Budapest Pride

ABSTRACT In 2008, following right-wing attacks in 2007, Budapest’s Pride march was ‘caged’ by a cordon of police barricades which remained until repudiated by march organisers in 2017. Both caging and uncaging resulted in fundamental transformations of the march, its spectacle of identity, politics, and belonging, and the meanings of Hungarian sexual politics. Grounded in ethnographic research from 1999 to the present, this paper explores the implications of these transformations for Budapest Pride’s layered visibilities and invisibilities, and their borders of desire, being, politics, and belonging. Weaving together queer concepts of ‘disidentification’, anthropological thinking on ‘friction’, and postsocialist analysis of queer ‘in/visibility’, I argue that that Budapest Pride’s shifting caged and uncaged state renders it a critical site of ‘di(s)visibility’: contingent frictions, simultaneously productive and destructive, between queer and other visibilities and invisibilities, whose ambiguous, ambivalent relations both crystallise and dissolve multiple borders of identity, politics, and belonging.

Maternal Inclinations, Queer Orientations, Common Occupation

ABSTRACT This article explores queer spatial and feminist coalitional practices through Adriana Cavarero's concept of maternal and mimetic “inclinations”, Sara Ahmed's concept of queer “orientations” and a political action by the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP). It argues that through these paradigms, social histories become central to philosophical thinking about subjectivity. Ahmed and Cavarero conceive of subjectivity through postural and spatial relations. To explore how spatial and postural relations generate subjectivities, I focus on an example of a deliberate political takeover of space. In the article, Ahmed and Cavarero's concepts are explored through a historical analysis of the 1982 takeover of Holy Cross Church (London, UK) by the ECP. This political action offers a different starting point for philosophical inquiry and proposes an additional response by orienting and inclining us towards a feminist coalitional practice and commons that builds support without minimising difference. The paper will show that the conceptual tools of Cavarero, Ahmed and the ECP can be productively brought into conversation and used to conceptualise maternal inclinations through queer spatial relations and feminist coalitional practices.

Teaching Queer Concepts to Graduate Students in Communication Sciences and Disorders: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy to Foster Affirmative Clinical Practice.

There is a growing body of literature informing pedagogical content and strategies of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the education of speech-language pathologists. However, little discussion has included content related to LGBTQ+ people, even though LGBTQ+ people exist across all racial/ethnic groups. This article seeks to fill that void and provide instructors of speech-language pathology with practical information to educate their graduate students. The discussion uses a critical epistemology and invokes theoretical models, such as Queer/Quare theory, DisCrit, the Minority Stress Model, the Ethics of Care, and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. Information is organized according to developing graduate students' awareness, knowledge, and skills and challenges instructors to modify current course content to disrupt systemic oppression.

Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture

Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture

Queering English language teaching: Insights from teachers in a Philippine state university

ABSTRACT With the growing acknowledgment of schools as potential sites for making gender equity and gender justice and fairness possible, incorporating the gender perspective in education has become imperative. The field of English language teaching (ELT) has been part of this development as well with issues of gender and sexuality receiving considerable attention in the field. The present study contributes to this developing conversation by focusing on the possibilities and challenges of queering ELT, an area in the literature on diversity-focused ELT which has received relatively minimal attention. Using a qualitative survey of 20 English language teachers in a leading Philippine state university, the study investigates the teacher-participants’ notions of a queer-perspective ELT, their own queering practices in the classroom, and the difficulties posed by these practices. The findings of the study demonstrate that the teachers have positive views about queering ELT and, in fact, find it necessary for fostering an inclusive classroom and stimulating students’ critical thinking. However, the teachers also report the lack of models, their own limited knowledge of queer concepts, and possible resistance from stakeholders as challenges that ultimately need to be faced for a genuine integration of the gender, specifically queer, perspective in the field of Philippine ELT.

The New Calling

The New Calling

Growing Up on the Wrong Side of the Mechitza: A Case Study of Contemporary Queer Jewish Language

Abstract This article presents vocabulary and approaches for expressing LGBTQ+ identities and practices, which derive from Jewish tradition used by queer Jews in the Seattle area. From thirty-four semi-structured interviews with affiliates of Seattle Jewish life, the authors identify eight tokens of queer Jewish English vocabulary, including multilingual wordplay used to construct new terms for queer concepts, the mechitza as a spatial idiom for transgender identity, and “Talmudic genders” being reclaimed as contemporary nonbinary identities. Additionally, queer Jews utilize a variety of approaches to navigate Hebrew, from formal efforts like the Nonbinary Hebrew Project to invoking low-proficiency-driven circumlocution. These approaches demonstrate that queer Jews draw on a range of linguistic and cultural resources to describe their identities and experiences, and the distribution of queer language reflects the continued challenge cis-heteronormatively gendered religious practices present for queer Jews and the corresponding need for queer Jewish vocabulary to make space within them.

Introduction to Fucking Solidarity: Queering Concepts on/from a Post-Soviet Perspective

This article introduces some of the questions, activist and theoretical concepts featured in the special issue “Fucking solidarity: Queering Concepts on/from a post-Soviet Perspective”. It reflects on the usage and applicability of the term queer and queer concepts within post-Soviet and postsocialist spaces, by playfully using the “fucking” as critical term, to emphasize queer’s original potential to offend and disrupt within English language. It reflects on the possibilities of queer and feminist solidarities across the East/West divide that do not fall into the trap of (Western) hegemony or anti-Western sentiments. Framing queer solidarity as “working together,” it looks for the possibilities of egalitarian mutual support across national and cultural borders. Finally, it gives an overview of the texts collected in the special issue.

Smithing Queer Empiricism: Engaging Ethnomethodology for a Queer Social Science

Is queer social science possible? Early queer theorists disparaged empiricism as a normalizing, modernist discourse. Nonetheless, LGBTQI+ social scientists have applied queer concepts in empirical projects. Rather than seek a queer method, we ask, Is there an empirical perspective that (ontologically) envisions social relations more queerly—attending to discursive and materialist productions of reality? Dorothy Smith’s work foregrounds people’s activities of engaging texts and satisfies Black queer studies’ and new materialisms’ critiques of early queer theory. Underutilized and often misread, especially its ethnomethodological sensibilities and its vision of actors as relational, practical actors, her work shows how my race is not mine, it is ours; your sexual orientation is not yours, it is ours; their gender is not theirs, it is ours. Smith offers an ontology without essence, grand theory, or normativity, facilitating a range of queer, interpretive projects—from the intersectional to the transnational to the embodied.

Mapping queer literature in translation: A survey of globalized queer fiction produced in Taiwan in 1990s

ABSTRACT 1990s witnessed the liberation of previously disregarded voices―such as those of homosexuals in Taiwan. Intellectual pluralism and homosexual visibility began to flourish during this remarkable decade, while the concept of queer emerged on the island’s academic and literary landscapes as a response to the globalized queerness. This paper is an attempt to testify the validity of a remodeled criteria in light of four Taiwan-made queer novels in the 1990s in transnational circulation. This article first looks at the historical context of Taiwan in the 1990s that favored the production of queer texts. Adopting a revised “International Recognition Indicators” model, this article outlines how four Taiwanese queer novels have transformed from local stardom to transnational visibility by examining how they have been critiqued and received by global readers. The nexus of this essay is to identify the “worlding” power, operation, and problems arising from translations that constitute the landscape of Taiwanese queer fiction in the 1990s. Findings show that the island’s peculiar queerness hinges on translation proper and manifold internal/external forces as a whole to make it a readily accessible cross-cultural commodity.

Queer kinship and the rights of refugee families

AbstractOver the past decade, the refugee protection regime has supposedly become more inclusive of queer and trans* people. Much literature has focused on the expansion of refugee status determination and the inclusion of LGBTQ asylum seekers. However, there are many areas of refugee policy that remain dependent on cisheteronormative assumptions and therefore exclude the queer and trans* forcibly displaced. This paper considers the concept of ‘the family’ and how it is used and understood in refugee protection. We make the normative argument that queer and trans* family units ought to qualify for refugee family reunion and group status determination. We do so by considering the concept of queer and trans* ‘chosen families’, arguing that these queer articulations of kinship are functionally and morally comparable to cisheteronormative conceptions of the family. We contend that considering the cisheteronormative underpinnings of the family in this way opens up the potential to queer other areas of refugee policy, and therefore paves the way to a more inclusive refugee protection regime.

Queer sau despre activism în gândire

As the concept of queer becomes more pervasive in the Romanian academic and activist spaces, the question concerning its conceptual content in relation to other critical notions from feminist and gender theories, as well as from critical thought in general, turns out to be quite central to the discussion. In this article, I propose a way of understanding this concept by employing the Deleuzian critical approach to philosophy and critical thought processes and formation as a starting point for elaborating future political and resistance strategies in progressive social movements.

Queerness of Hallyu 2.0: Negotiating Non-normative Identities in K-pop Music Videos

This paper discusses the visual encodings of non-normativities in the selected K-pop music videos and seeks to establish them within the aesthetic of gendered desirability that deviates from what is considered a social norm in South Korean culture. The first part presents a short history and current boundaries of Korean pop music and the construct of gender and its (inter)relation with sex and rhetoric of desire are discussed. The next section maps out the changes in the understanding of normativity and the concept of queerness. The final part of the paper relates the theories and practices of non-normative identities to the visualities from post-2007 K-pop music videos, using examples to illustrate and contextualize them. The authors focus on the representations of masculinities and show how selected texts can be read as spaces of liminality defying normative cultural and social rules.

Queer and Asian: Redefining Chinese American Masculinity in The Wedding Banquet (Ang Lee, 1993) and Red Doors (Georgia Lee, 2006)

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Chinese American men were subjected to different forms of discrimination and exclusion. The Chinese community was construed as a bachelor community, on the outskirts of the U.S. nation-state, and its men were symbolically emasculated. Consequently, Chinese American masculinity comes both as a site of submission and resistance, in which queer Chinese Americans meet the difficult challenge to conform neither to the Chinese nor to the American identity that cultural representations offer. This article explores Chinese American masculinity as a site of negotiation and resistance to such representations. To do so, we use the concept of “queer,” defined by David Eng and Alice Hom as “a political practice based on transgressions of the norm and normativity rather than a straight/gay binary of heterosexual/homosexual identity” (Eng and Hom 1998: 1). Firstly, in his movie The Wedding Banquet, Ang Lee tackles the theme of Chinese Americanness through the prism of a Chinese American closeted homosexual character. This allows us to discuss how Chinese American masculinity and identity are defined, explored, and negotiated in a queer context. On the other hand, the concept of queer can also be used as a theoretical tool which allows us to explore Chinese Americans’ imagined community and identity. This is done through the prism of Georgia Lee’s movie Red Doors, and more especially Ed, the suicidal patriarch of the family. We thus analyze the movie’s queering of ethnicity which reconfigures representations of Chinese Americans.

Shelley's Quest for Love: Queering Epipsychidion

This paper employs the concept of queer to examine Percy Bysshe Shelley's Epipsychidion. Shelley's idealism towards love was widely received in atheism, materialism and Platonism. Compared with other Romantic poets, Shelley exercised his concept of love very differently. Shelley's quest for love is particularly discussed in most of his love poems. Among them Epipsychidion is a long poem that Shelley wrote to demonstrate his philosophy of love. In his later life, Shelley worked on translating Plato's philosophy, particularly The Symposium, which partly focuses on Greek love, and further pondered on his own sexuality. Shelley started to draw on atheistic materialism and Platonic metaphysics. Epipsychidion extends Shelley's early concept of love, namely "a soul within our soul," and dramatizes his narrator's love towards a female character named Emily. Different from major perspectives from Shelley critics (Notopoulos, Wasserman, Sperry, Peterfreud) who particularly pay attention to Shelley's love affairs, heterosexuality, as well as the real identity of Emily in Epipsychidion, the paper instead focuses on this poem to testify Shelley's homosexuality. The closeted poet honestly, but vaguely, discloses his traumatic love towards his male "Emily" and eventually his potential suicide with the man. I argue that a queer reading of Shelley's poetry helps to reexamine Shelley's philosophy of love in Epipsychidion.

THROUGH THICK AND THIN: FROM THE REGULATION OF QUEERNESS TO QUEER THEORY AS DECOLONISATION

The purpose of this essay is to investigate, criticise and recontextualise the concept of queerness in South Africa. I will do this by focusing on the historical regulation of queerness, the attempted transformation of queerness and the inevitable decolonisation of queerness. This critical investigation and analysis will be centred around three main questions regarding queerness: (1) How queerness has been regulated by western and apartheid concepts of social interaction?; (2) How queerness has been transformed in Post-1994 South Africa — specifically before and after the implementation of the Civil Union Act?; and (3) How can the current marriage systems — and queerness — be decolonised using queer theory? I will approach this essay using concepts of transformative constitutionalism, queer theory, and decolonial theory. By answering these three questions, I aim to prove that queerness (as a concept and identity) is something that requires sufficient decolonisation because it has been historically regulated, inaccurately defined and inadequately transformed. Furthermore, I will demonstrate how legal systems and knowledge, dealing with queerness, ought to be interrogated and altered to best represent queer people.

Queering Brechtian feminism: Breaking down gender binaries in musical theatre pedagogical performance practices

This article explores how musical theatre pedagogy might begin to dismantle modes of practice that perpetuate exclusion and a dualistic, gendered perspective. I draw on my experience of directing postgraduate musical theatre students at Mountview in a production of Pippin (1972). Casting a trans man as Pippin – in many respects an archetypal male hero role – set in motion a process of queering and subverting norms. However, casting is only one element of creating an inclusive practice: in this work, I developed a hybrid approach that honoured students’ identities and experiences and took a critical, political view of the material being presented. My approach brings together Elin Diamond’s feminist theoretical framing of Brecht with queer concepts including heteronormativity and chrononormativity, which are then applied to David Barnett’s practical explanation of a Brechtian process. I argue that feminist and queer approaches can work together to meaningfully critique hegemonic forces influencing musical theatre training and production processes.

Still getting it on online: Thirty years of queer male spaces brokered through digital technologies

AbstractResearch across the social sciences testifies to an ongoing relationship between queerness and digital technology. This article tracks how different online spaces for queer menhave changed as the internet has developed over the past 30 years. It argues that queer spaces have become increasingly dominated by, and predicated on, internet technology. I review early interpretations of cyberspace as a liberatory space freed from heteronormativity and later more critical assessments of its potential, positioning arguments for and against the internet's status as a protective space. I then evaluate the huge popularity of mobile phone‐based dating and hook‐up apps such as Grindr and Tinder. These platforms have developed from static desktop offerings including Gaydar and PlanetRomeo, but emphasise a distinctly hybridised socio‐technical experience in partner seeking. Finally, I consider the impact of locative media on more traditional queer concepts of cruising and community, concluding that contemporary apps refigure both structures in distinctive ways reflecting larger changes in sexuality and space studies.

Opening up to trans persons in Physical Education–Sport Tertiary Education: two case studies of recognition in queer pedagogy

ABSTRACTBackground: In western societies, commitment to social justice claims for politics of recognition when referring to gender diversity. Gender non-conforming people, such as trans persons, represent social groups traditionally oppressed within heteronormative hegemonic thinking on gender. We present two qualitative case studies based on pedagogical activities that aim to convey our ruminations on this queer question: how can we contribute to the subversion of gender normalcy in Physical Education and Sport Tertiary Education (PESTE) through the imagination of trans persons’ Physical Education and Sport experiences?Theoretical framework: With the support of queer concepts, we theorize on trans persons and queer pedagogy. Trans persons do not fit into gender binarism which molds hegemonic ideology of heteronormativity, bringing about serious consequences that would include discrimination and harassment. Queer pedagogy efforts to enhance social justice should put the eye not only in trans persons’ experiences and feelings but also in cisgender’s (non-trans persons) beliefs and attitudes toward trans persons.Participants and methodology: Both activities were developed in the same degree with different groups of PESTE students. The first activity unfolds the use of a fictional tale, previously created for pedagogic purposes. The second activity entails queer tango as embodied performance to challenge heteronormativity. Qualitative data was obtained during the activities and was thematically analyzed to illustrate the activity and students’ interpretations.Results and discussion: A range of responses to the fictional tale resulted from the first activity. Some students legitimized sex/gender binarism and biological norms, unquestionably reflecting heteronormativity and, therefore, abjection toward trans persons. Others showed difficulties in achieving a true acceptance that would involve, for instance, an appropriately naming of gender identities. Finally, some exhibited their willingness to respect, encounter and accept trans persons.In the second activity, students found interesting the opportunity that queer tango had offered to exchange gender roles, while others expressed their difficulties in performing other gender roles than their own. Embodied experience was of significant importance in the process of gaining empathetic imagination on gender diversity. Some students questioned the rigid structuration of the beginning of the activity, while other’s slapstick performances were identified as strategies of resistance. Participants also reflected on how PESTE students imagined themselves teaching, commenting their lack of formation and ability to construct a non-heteronormative PES.Conclusions and final comments: Initiatives to sensitize about gender diversity and disrupt normalcy are necessary in PESTE. The two activities presented evidence coexisting imaginaries on trans persons. The double approach based on a fictional tale and a queer dance show different possibilities to enhance the empathetic imagining of distant others, trans persons in this case. With its limitations, politics of recognition need to enhance empathetic imagination to foster the possibilities for recognition and dialog between gender privileged and oppressed individuals and groups.