Publication Details

Abstract

This paper discusses the relation of contemporary phenomenology to queer theory. It argues that traditional phenomenology’s exclusion of social or libidinal structures constitutes both a “straight failure” and a “failure to become queer.” Drawing on Levinas, Derrida, and Halberstam, the paper reinterprets phenomenological passivity and opacity as sites of resistance to normative, heteronormative subjectivity. It suggests that these conceptual failures open the possibility for a queer phenomenology – one that embraces indeterminacy, vulnerability, and the political dimensions of desire. By reconceiving desire as constitutive of perception and subjectivity, the study calls for a critical, queer phenomenology that rethinks the foundations of ethical and political experience.