Day Twelve: October 13

Kelly's presentation on homonationalism

Judith Butler...as a troublemaker (my notes)

• What is the relationship between social justice and queer movement/queering practices? How is queer movement/practices connected to other social justice movements?
• What is the significance of Butler's refusal for queer/ing politics? How is she a troublemaker?
• Reactions?--in "Where Now?" they write: 

As the event enfolds, and is produced as both newsworthy and worthy of scholarly attention, discussions have tended to focus on Butler as a person rather than the issues at hand, or at stake. This again threatens to sideline queer and trans people of colour in Germany, whose struggle may seem a little too far away for some to attend to in its own right.

• About 2 minutes and 50 seconds in, A. Davis talks about a "terrain of struggle" and the value of always asking questions. What does she mean by the terrain of struggle? What sorts of queer questions can/should we be asking? What questions does Butler's refusal and all of the important work by activists and theorists of color leading up to that refusal prompt us to ask?

We all have noticed that gay, bisexual, lesbian, trans and queer people can be instrumentalized by those who want to wage wars, i.e. cultural wars against migrants by means of forced islamophobia and military wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. In these times and by these means, we are recruited for nationalism and militarism. Currently, many European governments claim that our gay, lesbian, queer rights must be protected and we are made to believe that the new hatred of immigrants is necessary to protect us.