The disconnect between the material body and theory/ myth according to Johnson and Zine when discussing queerness and gender among racialized people
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Johnson wishes for a term closer to home to distance themself from the more conventional use of the word queer which often excludes lived, embodied experiences of black queer bodies, histories and traditions. The term queer excludes the nuanced and multiple understandings of what it means to be queer, or “quare” in their life, including their grandmother’s use and pronunciation of the word, describing it in a way that is unique to “African American cultural rituals and lived experience.” (Johnson,126). Johnson also has a problem with it being a homogenizing term, which they explain to be in part because of the need for a unifying identity to unite against outsiders, but nonetheless, erases the very different struggles and experiences of black and brown queer bodies. Johnson explains that the black body is the victim of so much violence and trauma on the basis of race, as well as seen as bestial and lurking, in the context of Marlon Riggs’ naked sick body in Black is... Black Ain’t. Riggs’ naked sick body in the woods, meant to signify his physical and emotional struggle with navigating identities is looked at as “lurking” and “bestial” when in reality, he was sick and fragile. This is related to Johnson’s use of the term quare as being closer to home not only because of their grandmother’s southern accent but also because it is what Johnson describes as a “theory in the flesh” as it includes the lived experiences and embodiments of gay, transgender and lesbians of colours’ bodies (flesh). Relatedly, Johnson also claims that quare studies “pursues an epistemology rooted in the body” (Johnson 135), and that conventional queer studies and its theories fail to explore how the material body acts. This same disconnect between theory and body is seen in Jasmin Zine’s claim that it is possible for one to be a citizen of a state (physical) but not belong to a nation (idea). Physically, citizenship can be achieved, however according to Zine, “national identity then remains borrowed from those who are the keepers of the meanings and myths of nation building.” (Zine, 148). Although Johnson critiques the subjective, theoretical, idealistic aspect of queer studies as not being inclusive to black and brown bodies whereas Zine critiques the physical, material citizenship given to Muslim bodies as not being the marker for inclusion in the idealistic nation, the two scholars agree that there is a disconnect that exists between the material and the theoretical.
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This is a great discussion post, especially as it's synthetic. @dala_martins-hajjhassan connects the Johnson and Zine texts through an insight regarding the material and bodily. For top marks it would have been nice to include yet another reading/listening. Everybody, please do break up your paragraphs into shorter ones for the sake of my eyes.