the politics of belonging
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Johnson critiques the term "queer" as overly homogenizing, arguing that it disregards the lived experiences of people of color and prioritizes theoretical discourse over the material realities of the body. He highlights Champagne's dismissal of Hemphill's emotional address, positioning Champagne as an "authoritative Other" who, by his own ignorance of the naturalization of the white body, devalues the black body's expressions as anti-intellectual. Bell Hooks said it best: "that mode of address is questionable precisely because it moves people. Style is equated in such a setting with a lack of substance."
Johnson's critique extends to the false binary between the corporeal and the discursive, arguing that it marginalizes the role of race and the struggles of being racialized in LGBTQ+ identity formation. He also challenges the idea that severing ties with those who hold different social or political views is something necessary. Drawing from my own experiences with family members who hold homophobic or racist views—attitudes rooted in their own cultural naivety and experiences of marginalization—I agree with Johnson that mutual support within marginalized communities often outweighs these differences. For many, severing ties is a luxury they cannot afford.
Similar to Johnson's criticisms of "queer," Muñoz critiques the term "Latino" as incoherent, arguing that it homogenizes diverse groups while failing to unite them, serving instead to simplify and contain ethnic differences within a system of normativity that marginalizes the racialized other.
Zine's work further illustrates this normativity through her experiences as a Pakistani immigrant in suburban Ontario, where the performance of whiteness becomes a necessity for acceptance. The "Good Immigrant" is expected to assimilate and conform, a demand rooted in nationalist fears of cultural contamination. This is most evident in the paradoxical perception of the veiled Muslim woman, who is simultaneously viewed as oppressed and non-conformist, embodying the contradictions of a system that demands assimilation while rejecting true cultural diversity.