Abstract:
Prof. Love considers the important place of affect in recent queer
studies. From Ann Cvetkovich's work on lesbian trauma and the archive
to the Gay Shame conference to Eve Sedgwick's new book Touching
Feeling, work in queer studies has focused on emotion as a
key to queer experience and history. Such an emphasis derives in
part from the field's commitment to the resignification of insult
and injury (in the reclaiming of the word 'queer'). It is also meaningful
in light of the shift in recent years from a focus on queerness
in terms of shared identity traits to a focus on queerness as a
strategic response to social exclusion. Discussing the links between
this work and recent work in critical race studies and disability
studies, we consider the potential usefulness and drawbacks of a
politics of affect.
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