Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley, CA: U of California, Somerville, Siobhan B. Credo Reference. Walters, Suzanna Danuta. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.
Queer Theory: Background. Implications of Queer Theory: Analyzing with a queer perspective has the potential to undermine the base structure on which any identity relies on although it does this without completely destroying or forsaking categories of identity , the theory has been understood to be just about questions of sexuality.
Future of Queer Theory: As a whole, queer theorists disagree about many things, but the one thing they do not disagree on is that if queer theory is to be understood as a way to test the established and stable categories of identity, then it should not be defined too early or at all because of the possibility of it becoming too limited. Bibliography: Berlant, Lauren, and Michael Warner. Report a problem. Despite the distinct emergence of queer theory from these wider origins, some questions remain.
This is something that queer scholars argue against. Another issue lies in the vague definition of queer theoretical tenets and terms, leading to uncertainty about how a queer theoretical lens can best be deployed in various disciplines by a wide range of individuals.
In its application to IR, queer theory challenges many assumptions about world politics unrelated to sexuality and gender. Instead, it embraces the fluid, performative and ambiguous aspects of world politics. Hence, it criticises those approaches to politics and society that assume natural and moral hierarchies. Queer theorists argue that this results in a societal integration of sexual minorities into mainstream consumer society — making them less willing or able to contest deeper political inequalities.
Queer theory perceives sexuality and gender as social constructs that shape the way sexual orientation and gender identity are displayed in public — and thereby often reduced to black-and-white issues that can be manipulated or distorted. With regard to more classical IR topics, it critically assesses the assumption that all societies find themselves at different points along a linear path of political and economic development or adhere to a universal set of norms.
Hence it embraces ambiguity, failure and conflict as a counterpoint to a dominant progressive thinking evident in many foreign or development policies. Weber highlights a lack of attention to queer theory by decrying the closed-mindedness of standard IR theories, arguing that queer scholarship in IR exists but is not recognised.
The invisibility of queer theory is slowly changing, with case-study work on state homophobia Weiss and Bosia or collective identity politics Ayoub and Paternotte and the increasing relevance of transnational LGBT rights discourses for IR scholarship.
These works offer comparative case studies from regional, cultural and theoretical peripheries to identify new ways of theorising the political subject by questioning the role of the state as we have come to accept it.
They do so from the vantage point of the outsider and infuse these well-worn IR concepts with critical considerations and interpretations. Queer IR scholars look for the contribution queer analysis can provide for re-imagining the political individual, as well as the international structure in which people are embedded. Reflecting on the possible futures of queer theory, there are various important aspects to consider.
Progress in LGBT politics is mainly limited to the Global West and North and evokes culture wars about how hetero-normative such advocacy should be. And, it elicits international homo colonialist contentions about the culturally intrusive manner by which LGBT rights are promoted. This becomes clear when powerful transnational groups, governments or international organisations propose to make foreign aid disbursement conditional on equality reforms in certain countries.
At the same time, they do not sufficiently recognise that their explicit LGBT support increases the marginalisation of minorities in certain states.
It has to be mentioned though, that many LGBT organisations have a better understanding of local contexts and often act with the cooperation of local activists, though typically in a weaker position than the intergovernmental institutions they are allied with. LGBT politics and queer IR research can inspire and parallel each other as long as sexual advocacy politics does not fall prey to overly liberal, patronising politics.
No matter if in the domestic or international arenas a number of problematic issues remain with the alleged progress of LGBT politics: if predominantly gay and lesbian rights such as marriage and adoption equality are aimed for, can one speak of true equality while transgender individuals still lack healthcare access or protection from hate crimes?
And if the normalisation of Western LGBT individuals into consuming, depoliticised populations leads to a weakening of solidarity with foreign LGBT activists and appreciation of their difference, what effects does this have on global LGBT emancipation?
Queer theory is an important tool for helping to better appreciate the complexity of these debates. Globalisation has equipped queer theorists and activists with an expanded terrain for intervention. With reference to LGBT advocacy politics, the emergence of numerous Western-organised non-governmental organisations but also local LGBT movements with the significant publicity they generate — be it positive or negative — expands transnational politics to a previously unknown degree.
Both chip away at the centrality of the state in regulating and protecting its citizens. A key place this can be detected is within debates in the European Union EU , which is an international organisation with supranational law-making powers over its member states. The inclusion of LGBT individuals not as abject minorities but as human rights carriers with inherent dignity and individual rights of expression may transform the relationship between a marginalised citizenry and governmental authority — both at the state and EU level.
But queer theory does not always align comfortably with the predominant political strategies advanced through transnational LGBT rights advocacy in Europe. It disputes many existing socio-political institutions such as neoliberal capitalism or regulatory citizenship that form the bedrocks of European politics. LGBT advocacy is, at times, viewed by queer theory as conforming, heteronormative, stereotyping and even homo nationalistic in its particular value-laden Western overtones. Edwards, J.
Eve kosofsky sedgwick Routledge critical thinkiers. Foucault, M. The history of sexuality, volume 1: An introduction. Middlesex: Penguin. Freeman, E. Time binds: Queer temporalities, queer histories. Durham: Duke University Press.
Halperin, D. What do gay men want? An essay on sex, risk, and subjectivity. Hegarty, P. Sexuality, normality and intelligence. What is queer theory up against? Love, H. Feeling backward: Loss and the politics of queer history. Minton, H. Queer theory: Historical roots and implications for psychology.
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