‘Cultural Studies of the Americas uled by George Wii, Jon Feanco, and Juan Plover Volume 3 Latin Americanism Rom de a Caenpa Volume 2 Disdsfstion: Quer of Caer and ie Pformance of Plt Jove Fseban Mason \Vohume 1 The Fence and the River Calare and Polis axe U.S-—Mesico Border (Ghaire B Fox DISIDENTIFICATIONS Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics josé esteban mufioz Cutural Studies of he Americas, Volume 2 Bl Univorty of Minnesota Press — Minnaopolis — London‘Bam and Dandy tke B. x! Andy" was orgitally published in Pyp Out: Queer Warhol ‘eanier Doyle, Jonathan lady, and Joa Matic, eitacs (Durham, N.C: Duke ‘Univesity Prey, 1996), 144-79. “Phoeagephies of Mourning” was originaly published i “Roc and te Subject) of Masoelns, sry Stecoposlow Sad Michael Ucbe, eleos ‘Derhain, WC: Duke University Pres, 1997), 387-60. "The Auroethnopaphic Pesfornanc? was osiginaly publihed in Sven 36, no, 2 (2995): 83-99; prince by pecision of Oxord Universi Pres, "The White to Be Ang” wa originalypabled in "Sead Tear 52-53 (al-wiatce 1937}: SD1-3, Pars of ‘Sater Acts: Ela Troyano and Carma Topica” Ase appeared in The Ethie Be: Latin Metis Ara, Con. oie tnd Ana M. Lipen, itor (Minneapolis: Univessiy of Mianesota Pes, 1956), and Women and Parormanes ral of Fmt Theory 72, no. 4-13 (1993): 39-52. Am cafe vet- lon of Pd Zanota's Real Word of Covneerpublciy: Peforming an Ethie of che Sel ‘rst published in Homonesuaiy and Fipanisms, Spva Molloy dor (Dushars, NC. i Banyo 960 son tes nhs bok wo le in hc , Srna State Sah es ees (utbny NC: Deke Uses Pes, This bao fr my frie ee. and in loving memory of gue LOO} conpighe 1989 by the Ragen ofthe Unie of Mlaneca Vinoue Velo (1919-97) ‘bls ened No ps ofthis pblcon may be ered ed in eee val oe Ly fom os by any any dein, ska, penpyig eet iene whoa be pn nen pesdon oe pubes rien Sey (1967-87) bong Pld bythe Unive of Minn Pr TT Phd Avene Soh Se 30 76 Mnneapl MO 354012520 ie aes |g ramen le on pe Ma7 “Library of Congress Catloyigyin Publication Data 1 499 sto, je tan Dideeaeacans: unc of col ede pfomane of pala José Bacbun Mito pee (Gal sic of th Ave 2) : Indus iliggapied rfrencn(g. ad inde ISIN DS1G650109 (Cac dee pp). — IBN 0-81663035-1 (PB acd fe pope) 1 Mscy peated Sees Soci cons. 2, Minot bins — ‘nied Stes Sic ond. 5. Hare Ameen gye—Socl condos, Tipo coan lelane Socal ematons 5. Gor-United Sares— Tanai 6 Labaa—United Sees—identy. 7. Peformance r-—Poial soyeseUaind Sam, Tie. I, Se Boyeausue7 1599 50570664321 9850308 “The Univentiy of Minnesota ean oquabopporrunity educscor and explore. 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 a2 01 0099 10 9B TESAS2E .Contents Preface Jc’: Phangee i ‘Acknowledgments x7 Introduction Performing Disidemifenions 1 Port The Melancholia of Race 1..Famous and Dandy like B.‘n' Andy Race, Pop, nd Basquiat 37 2. Photegraphies of Mouming Melancholia and Ambivaleacein Van DerZee, Mapplechorpe, ne Looking for Lengron 57 Partll Remaking Genres: Porn, Punk and Ethnography 3, The Autoetnographic Performance Reading Richard Fangs Queer Hybriity 77 4. "The White to Bo Angry Vaginal Creme Davis Teoris Drag. 93 Port il Crisical Cubana 8, Sistor Acts Hla Teoyano and Carmelita Thopicana 119 6. Pedro Zomora's Real World of Counterpublicly Performing an Bihics of the Sef 143, 7. Performing Dsidentiy Dsdentcation ara Price of Freedom 16% 8. Latina Performance and Queer Worldmeking; or, Chusmer tthe End ofthe Twenfielh Century 181 Notes. 201 Index 219)Corl Topicera, Rebece Sumer Burgos, Ana Margaret Sanches, and Ui Panes Photo by ens Meas. Preface Jack's Plunger Nome is heel ee Fhomoemeuy ck Sh ‘The phrase “queer theater” was spectaclly inaugurated in 1978 by Stefan Breche in his weird and resplendent book Queer Thess. Broce’s partpant observer chronicle of freaky performance ia New Yock froin the mid-itics co the mnid-seven- tis i he second volume ofa nine volume study ofthe New York avantgunde. Its through Brechr’s accounts that [firs leaned of Jack Smith's legendary pesformance practice. Brecht’ desctiptions of Smich’s durational pecformances were thick and fincrioned as performative writing inasmuch as the cite’s prose rambled with a “moldy” exces that echoed the performer's own particular seyle. My own visualize ton of Smith's performances was enabled bythe filmic documentations that exited of his work, including his own rexored underground dassis Normal Love and Flaming Creature and Ela Troyaao’s Bubble People! Yea ater, 1 would leat lot more about Smith through che reminiscences of his fends Troyano and Carmeliea ‘Thopicana. The power of Smih'ssuange and opulent peformances was conveyed 10 me over many meals and drinks with these ends, These conversations fostered 2 deep regret chat I never witnessed Smith's work fsthand. The more I fimned about Smith, the more I became convinced tha his wos wa mmporsant to my anderstand- ing ofthe modaliey of pecformance [wis theoriing as disidentifcation. It was ‘gy bunch vas Smith's performances were expecially useful for the project of unpacking” and desctbing what I called the worldmaking power of dsidentificatory perfor | sacs, Smith once claimed that important acting did aot change the actor but if ssead cansfomed the world* Smith made woslds during his performances, he cecy- ced schlock culeure and remade i 28a quees world‘As Ieatned more of Smiths pesformaness, I became pay diseubed by what could be described as the oxentalzing and wopicaliing agects of the work, which is to say che way ke played with overshe-op images of “exotic” Third World shaoscape. These recrvations were significa diminished when I looked cleely a the avilable documentation of Smith's work. His work with images of Latin spit- fies and chessy Hollywood renditions of Scheherazade deserved more cael co0- sideration. I egan to think that Sih had ite to do wich acual Thind Woeld cal cures and instead workesl_sheough Hollywood's fantasics_of the_oches. The uuadergroued genius utilized these fntasies ofthe orks ina reflective fashion, The cexcest affect of Maria Montes andthe gaudy Fantasies oF are cult were wilized to destabilize the world of “party normale" and help at imagine another time and place In Smith's cosmology, “exotic” war an aninormative option chat resisted the overdetermination of postiness. Hollywood’ feishized fancasies of the other were energized by Smith's performance. His performances of che “spite” and Scheherazade were nected with dsidentfcavry dference chat helped toxic images cxpind and become much more chan qusine racsms. Dsidenifstion ie che proces inswhich the ave reformslats the acual perforsasiviy of his glizsting, 8 movie srchive, which sto say. chat the images that Smith. cited were imbued with perfor _mazvity char surpassed simple eshiarion_ liver ransomed, ackneyedoren- ropical fa them sich ansinormacive-teasure-tovcs.oF| core pos ‘My estimation of the politic eficacy of Smith's performance is gleaned fom any readings of Breches pesformance documentation. Ye, take sue with is analy- sis of Smith's or quoce theater as polikcal projet. Beeche wrote about what he pes ‘ecivd a he poll limite of queer theater: “Since the queer ats, having no justi- featon for it, cannot allow himscf che disfigurement of cae, his are ix entirely ependeat on energy. Bur since his energy is ensrely dependent on an exuberance of sage his ax an active cebelion, is prone wo degeneze into good-humored cornedy and unthinking repetition, and to fll par." Brec's generalizations about quect ‘heater are arived at dough readings of Smith Jobn Vaccaro, Charles Lam and ‘he Ridiculous Thestial Compeny, Joan Wateu's cinema, and other white per formers from she 19605 and the 19708, I disagree with chs paccular assessment of quer thee’ politics of peformance ona few counts. The comedy of Smith and :nany of the other playwrights and performers considered in hs text cannot be r= duced wo “good-hurmore fun. Todo a would be w ignore the suting asinorms- tive criques thet Smith pecformances enacted. Jc Smith's performance of politics often had a materialist orientation, His die course on “landlords,” for example, was a Marsian-tinged crique of eapitalist com seuctions of private propery. Property owners were depicted as moneygrubbing lob- sxe ia che Sod bestia. Ta his performance "Lraional Landlords of Baghdad,” Smit called for a modality of artistic production chat insisted on arcchatelucated as sz entrained Tho tox of thar performance begins by asking a fat-forad question char nonetheless hauns seth philowphy. “Could at bensefu” He answered is ‘own question with aplomb: ver snc che dest def over dhe bursour ruins of Plaster Lagoon thou sands of aris have pondered aad doeamed of ach thing, yet art must not be hel anymore at ander elaborate meas of Being om thisking because of che maldplying amount ofnfoemsion eich pero ees 0 proc in ode to ome 1 any ed of decison os wha nd af lant one wats wo Ive on blo busines gon, and govenmen icon in blowing ou ofthe anlar yc “The monologue is phyed as « aped voiceover sccanpanying a scene in which a serubwoman, dowa on her knce, cleans dhe foor. Ar the end ofthe reoeding, she stands up wiumphandy, Another worean, a “Yamorous Hooda,” ener the com and the worker once agin drops to her knees. This performace, with all it camp and ourthere glamour in place, nonetheless insisted on chronicling wage exploit tion and cass strafcation. This pesormance is pardeullyiusratve of Sait’ _macecalist sete philosophy. Smith insted on ar that was “exapis, sunning glamorous and sarunanisc.""earumatismc” fr Smith meant that i served a po- Iniclly pedagogical role, that ix provided che spectaoe the material to rst “the (Capi of Lobstesiand,” and insead duidenify with eae world and pecform a Smiths camp was not good-humared goofing Ie ined on social critique. ‘Bren his diva worship indexed something of 2 materialise ethos. Doninian-bomn Hollywood B movie acest Maria Monte was the pracipal goddess in che Chrch ‘of Jack Smith, Smith had great contempt for Monte’ eplacemeat inthe fimament of Hollywood surdom, Yronse de Calo was « comport aczese where Montez svas fiom conservative vantage point, 3 poor acces Smith described de Cato asa “walking carer.” The actress represented the loathtome corporate ethos af Hally- ‘wood. Smith's love of Montes bad much to-do with the way in which her psf smance eicewed the commercalizad tenes of “good acing™ and helped the perfor mance ani imagine another mode of pecfotming the world that war for him weaasformacive, Le Tam also lit to wonder what Brech’s more general conclusions sbout queee seate would loo ike i he consideced the work of Caxmetia Tropicana, Vaginal Davis, Marga Gomer, and many other queer peeformers of ealor who specialize in the incerweaving of pation and comedy in inate and selfausaining fashions. Although shy participate in dhe geare of comedy and satire, there performances do rot oe sight ofthe face har husnor isa vohusble pedagogical and policcl project. In ‘his book, L will argue che opposite of Broce’ thesis in respect vo queers of coor: the wot of these performers does noc eventually become “good-hurored.* "unchink jing” and ic most czrsnly does noe Sil apart. Comey dacs not exist independently of rage. Ib is my contention thar age is susined and i i picched as 2 call wo ac-xi mueace, tivim, a bid eo tale apace in the socal cha hasbeen colonized by the logics oF white normativiy and heteronosmativiy. These logs ae embodied for srs in che frm of Smith's nursber one rrges the ‘pasty normals” J. Hoberman bas translated “pasty normals" as Smith's diss of heterosexu- sls? Bue my reconstrcsions of Smith's lexicon lead me 0 ead more into this idea of the “pasty normal.” Smith, asthe epigragh o this prefce shows, saw normaley asthe ark side of homosexualiey- Normaly is therefore not constcured as sic endemic ‘9 heterosexuality. The rise ofesimilationise gay politics and ite weak request for a place at the abe prove Smith's point decades later. Normale mighr be beter whe derstood as normativicy. The “normal” inthe "pasey normal” mig chen be de- scribed as “nonmatvity,” as in Michael Wamer’s infuenia!neslogism.“hercronor- rpativiy.”® In Warner's formulations, lesbisas and gay men might very well subscribe to heteronoemasve thinking and pelts, Lisa Duggan’s recent work on “homonormarivgy.” a theory cha deciphers the ways in which conservative and as imilavionise gays and lesbians concibute co the privaization of mas culture, is espe cially celevane when considering Smith's wotk.? ‘But what of the “pasty” inthe “pasty normal” equation? In the Smith cosmoiogy. _pisy would be the opposite of exodc. Pasty isthe negative term. Smith himself had troubles with pastness. One of his journal enix reads: “ overeame pastiness” I want to mggese thst Smich’s pase is meant to inde "whiteness of, more neaty, white armativity, Ya Sith’ ingenious phase, white nonmatvty and heeronorratiiey are shown to be adjacent and moually informing ideological formations. Furthermore, they are not linked to predetermined biologics! coordinates. "The fice that Ihave never seen Smith's pecformances does not help authorize sy diagreement wich Brecht. Afize all, what do I know? I was not there. Bue Ihave ben ther for alo of queer theater performance in che “wake” of Jack Smith. For ine sance, Ihave witnetted one particular homage to Smich many times. My most re- cnt observation ofthis performance wes a a benefit for PS. 22, the hub of down- ‘ovm performance in Manhattan. The bill included the upscale performance art oF ‘Meredith Monk and Spalding Gray. Dowiwown legends The Alien Comic and the :arvelous Holly Hughes rounded off che evening long with che emoee, a noted per formance actin her own right. Carmelita Tiopicana barrels onto the stage. She is wearing «biue wig, a tight re plasic bodice with Sings, blac leggings, and leopard- tine cowboy boors. She immedictely sizes up the audience. She spots a woman with shar and, inher thick pseudo-accene, she puree thar the hat i very sexy and very be- coming. The flaming spice gets very close to the embarrassed woman, deliberately challenging her personal space. She asks che woman noc to be upset because, afer al, thisis er job, she i a performance artis She thea launches into ber own oxigin as a performance anist, She moves back from the audience and walks into 2 spodight er voice booms as she eakes the pressure off the blushing woman inthe hat and in- (quite of the entice audience: “How many of you know performance ar” She ex- wetne plains shat clephone call fiom Ela"Troyano alerted Carmelia (ten mild-mannered ‘Alina Tioyano) of che existence of this practice. Alina asked her sister ecccly what was performance ar? Ela explained that there was a five-thousand-dollar grant avail able for performance art. Alina dashed off an application and was awarded the grant. ‘Thus, Carmelita Tropicana was bors «fly born ehuma pesformance deity “Tropicana then proceeds to eecite her personal peeformance manifesto, I bave ‘heard dhs many dimes, but I nonetheless laugh as she sends four quotations on what performance art is. She quotes Lautie Andessoa’s line that performance arti 2 per formance by alive arcist. Carmalisa agrees, emphatically adding thar ie would most certainly noc be performance ar ifthe artist were dead. She chen quotes Hughes, who has joked thar 90 petcent of performance artis the costurne. She gescues to het ‘own flashy amie, Her third citaion s from herself “Performanc: artis not musi, aot dance s not film bur can contain all of hese elements.” ‘There is one more point to her manifesto, wich she idensifes as the most im- porsane part, and this i what Iam most ineeested in consideting heee, Tropicana ex plains that performance art changes one's perception of the-wodd. She tums from, the audience and wale ta large shopping bag thac ic portioned a few fex behind baer. She resches into the bag and pulls out a plunges. With one hand she holds she plunges up high, as if she were displaying her patriotsma to che People’s Republic of Performance Art. She challenges che audience: "What is this?” Meek voice in the crowd respond by saying “e plunger.” Carmelita ifs an eyebrow and glares at the spectators: “A plunges! I laugh at you wildly. Ha.” Carmelita confesses tbat she 090 ‘once mistook this objec fora mere plunger, Because che isa superineendent 28 well, asa peeformance artist, this is an understandable mistake. But che was disabused of ‘his misconceprioa after sesing 2 peeformance by Jack Smith. She then lzunches into a recounting ofthis performance: asin the Village in a concrete basement t was packed, eg of us wall co ‘wll, There isa breee blowing through the wall created hy two fr. Beni Scheherazade musi plays and our comes an Arabian Prince Jack Smith ina di- saphenous material. He is dancing. He pours gaan in the aside of the oor to make a blace lagoon. He takes out a match and throws it in. The flames row aad se thine we are going to die but he ches, revolves and demi-plis to the coiner and grzbs chis (she brandishes the plunges] and continues his dance, ‘paring che Hames out with this. No, ladies and gentlemen, this to me, a super inendene and perfoemance ars, as changed from s plunger to an objet dart. remember Jack Smith, who died of AIDS in 1989. ‘Wich sis recitaion over, she holds che objece firmly in ber fst and then bows, into ducing the fie performer and leaving the stage ‘Charles Lndlam seas qnoced as saying that Jack was the father of us all In thi homage by Carmelita Tropicana we see Jack Smith ax precurior to her own perfor. ‘mance practice. In auch of Tropicana’s work, eaces of Jack arc evidenced in hetxiv pRerace covershe-op “exotics,” her deep invement in gaudy and toxic serotypes ofthe “Latina, her red eathe bos, andl the occasional spzsh of plier thar might pancrre her performances. Ia this performance ofa performance, or «performance of merao- ry, the smuenc of quer theater can glimpse an alternative rendering of the qucer per formance af polities than the one theorized by Brecke, Queer pedformance fiom Smith to Tropicana and beyond is about transformation, about the powecful nd charged ansformation ofthe wool, abour the world that i born through pesfor- mance. Smith’ Baming blac lagoon scared ie spectators c made thers think hat chey would perish in chat small dowacowa basement, bu they soon ested that the performance was 2 ritual of transformation, Smith's exotic dance, his graceful dows ing ofthe Bames, signaled a world to come and calle stencon to 2 woeld that was already chere, Ie made 4 queer world for those cight snug specators Yee lee, ‘Tropicana rekeases that peeformance and adds e she continuously dsidenifjing process of pesforming 2 queer world. A plunger is remade ino an art object: The subside of cis book peaks to the pesformance of politics. The study itself ix a contibution to the formation of queer performance-uies les. That lone is incereted in. theorising the political force of peformance and perforeativity by queers of all rcs, In this book, Ll. look at isidenriicazory performances of politics, acts that Iwill descibe as cefoe- smulatng she wr cheng the peraemance of politics, The latoduction looks at ‘atouspeefrmanees hat remake the wold, prominent among them Marga Gornes's remaking of sigmatiaed televisual lesbian sterecypes into lush sives of erotic inves ‘ment, In chapter I, I coasider Jean-Michel Basqutat’s disidentication with both pop gut Andy Werhol and the peace of pop art Chapter 2 examines Isc Julen’s cinematic performace of diasporic black quce identity chrough redeploy- rent of black mourning snd melancholia. Chapter 3 surveys Richard Fang's roy- dling of porn and ethnography as powerful autoethnographic peformance. Chapter 4 chronicles Veginal Davis's errorise drag and its fercedisidencifiation with white supremacie militiamen from Idaho. Te final four chapres focus on Cuban Amecia. Chapter 5 takes a closer look at the remaking of camp performance in the work of “Troyano and Tropicana. The actvse performance of Pedco Zamora is the topic of chapter 6. Chaptcr 7 father inguises into disidentifestory pesformances in the public sphere by looking 2 che dsidenity fthioned in the conceptual at of Felic ‘Gonzale-Tocres. In chapter 8, Carmelita Tropicana's Chicas 2000, a cheater pro- tccion, enabies ne to Further elaborate a dsession of queer worldmakiag through the example of disidentiicwory pesformances of Latina cuomera, ll f these case soudies ate sovis of transformation and poliealreformlstion. In divergent and complicated ways, all of chese caluual worker, lke Smith before them, chorea fgaph and execute thei own metsphorc dances in font of the flaming black lr ig00n, stamping out fires with greet and political fficey, and, inthe proces, build ing worlds Acknowledgments ‘This project wae made posible bythe seemingly ies suppor and eng meat fos the commis [hve ved in oe he la ew eas |e deny debe othe vigour od nal inellrunlcmate a Duke Unive an! New Sirk Une "he come hat ected thi projec info most protean incon a i scration was eatery generous wit te ie and feedback Kara FC. Hallonsy {nd Wales Migol alan sign on wihou having preouly known me 1 ‘dent, [ need Gom tes knowledge ing and eapevene Je M. Gant offed me sweat ofboth eel anlbibopaphie knowledge: a her ld of pects, Michal Moon initnce ona high love of sclnhip ped pu is Prot rad when wa indepen ned of poplin. e Koss Sedgwick fas aot ony bem an entocigey dincraon dear, but ao an ine fiend. continue to be ispie by her wor, her empl, nd her pence, (Othe ends in te Dake mates’ T need thank aca Sany Ml rote kad ntomal mary. and wi mae pads col + eh more Blestne place io wih t» expres ny apreaton co Sandy Smamson, Psa ane, Joan MeNay fr all i lp aloo want vo thank Thomas Spe or it tupporetvugh thos ya fe frtnae wo have wos ede ad ive among Brian Sly, Jonatan Facey, Gusas Sadler, Kate Kent, Mandy Ben, ClateRaser Delgado, Bek (fez, Jif Dyl Johannes von Molt, laos Kaa, Joba Vince Rema Boru and Ben Weve Many ofthese ends were he Se peopl 0 eng thet lea Tei confdence in me and asurances Gn is wa oe ut cay le ime ts bok poseavi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ‘The presence of Brian Sel, who seud this book before it was anywhere near readable, haunts every page- 1am very gratefal ro this books series editors for thee interest inthe project and their helpful suggestions, George Yidice has been an expecially good editos I want :0 ‘thane Jennifer Moore for her amazing competence, ‘Thanks to che Andrea Rosen Galery (especially Andrea Rosen and Jobs Con sll) for permissions. Donne McAdams images and documentation add eonsier- ably co the texture of this book: "New York Univesity hasbeen fanzastis place to do my work. I thane performancs= studies colleagues Barbara Browning, May Joseph, Barbara Kirsheablatt Gimblets, red Moten, Peggy Phelan, Richard Schechnes, and Diana Taylor for their suppor Sylvia Molloy and Andrew Ross have also been supportive cxlleagues. The members of the Faculty Working Group in Queer Seudis at New York University, including ‘Carolyn Dever; Lisa Duggan, Philip Brian Harpes, and Chris Strayer, have been idea collesgues. Other “show-busines” friends (oc fiends I met through the business) whom I seed co thank inchude Sasha Torres, who hat supported my wore with intelligence and love; Judih Halberstam, who has been a superlative intellectual and political ally: Ann Pellegrini, who is my briliane coconspirator; and my dear fiend josh Kun, who has taught me how to listen to sounds of disidensifcation. David Roma. has ‘aught me a great deal cbout inellcrual generosity. Alberto Sandoval has been aa important model for me and my generation of queer Latina/o scholars. Ana Lépex ‘and Con Noriegs did some important Latino mentoring our of the kindness of ‘their heart, Licia Fol-Mata was one of this bool’ “anonymous readers" snd hee tough yer generous appraisal ofthis project made a world of diference, {am grateful to Marcos Becquer for ceaing and responding oo my work with such intellects force and brilliance. Other amazing divas whora Ince to send fumble shout-outs to include Stephen Best, Jennifer Brody, Ondine Chavoya, Ann Cretkovich, David ing, Beth Breeman, Coco Fusco, Joseba Gabilondo, Gayarst Gopinath, Miranda Joseph Alex Jukasz, Tifany Ana Loper, Martin Manclansan, Mandy Merc, Ricardo Orciz, Geeta Parl, José Quiroga, Robert Reid-Phars, B, Ruby Rich, Amy Rebinson, Alisa Soiomos, and Pany White. My comrades at Social Tixe and the Boards of Directors for the Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies atthe Cty Universiey of New York and the New Festival have been a delight 1 work wih. ‘This book is deeply indebted to the eulmura workers whose performances and productions ground my cheorescal ruminations. I have had che goad fortune of esting to know many of chesearists fer I began wotking an them, I have discov- sed chat Marga Gomes, Issac Jlien, Richard Fang, Vaginal Davis, Ela Troyano, Carmelita Tropicana, Rebeesa Sursnet-Burgos, Uni Parnes and Ana Margaret Sanchez are as rewarding 10 know as they are co write about. Other superlative ats who inspire me include Luis Alfio, Nayland Blake, Jusia Bond and Kenny Mellman, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS svi 1 Ricardo Bracho, Jonge Ignacio Conus, Cheryl Dunye Bian Freimen, Hall, “Hughes, andTony Jus. (My students Have emibleé my scholship ia productive and beauifal ways “They have heard much o chitin its exfestincarsacions and have responded wich n- teligence, wit and poliea cary T ofr them a heared chan yu, The research support of Bers Jota has bea invaluable. have been very frtaate vo wok with ‘the talented young scholar Paul Scolies,owhom T owe a substantial debt. Anacher debe is owed to Johu Wiggs for his work on the index. A lis of dear fend in New Yor whom I take pleature in acknowledging ta- les ¥. S. Brody, Luke Dowd, Andrew Gebbarde, Jennifer Sharpe, Nicolas Tey Tra and Rose Toche (aka the singing Tioche ses) and Abe Weineauh Antonio Viego Je and Guin Tara have kape me sharp and mess. These est ficnds and sometimes tormentor/areh-fes have made me laugh and exy and kept the living dcp and rel. Tony got me int this ine of wosk and eis amos certain that! would not have achieved much if he had aot shown sxe how so disdentfy wich just about everything Tris especialy bard to fn the words to thank Ar Gold, who has mean 20 much to this book an my lf. His patience, lve, and concen have Been instrumental this project and so much more, He has read these pages and aflered mea steady Bow of valuable feedback an precious support ‘The “Lady” Bully is joy [My family in Hialeah has sided and abetted rae in crucial ways, despite the fist sha we are separated by an expansive ideniogicel gulf that makes the ninety miles be tween Cuba and Miami leo lle a pul. Thele suppor of me ha never waned. Gracias |Introduction i Performing Disidentifications | Merges Bed ‘There ia certain ure w the speaace of one quer standing onstage slne, with or without props, bent on the projet of opening up a world of queer language, iri cam, perceptions, dreams, visions, aesthetics, and politics. Sle performance speaks to the reiliy ofbeing quer at this particular moment. Mote than two decades into a devastating pandemic, with hate eines and leglation sand a quer end people of clo instcationaliel as sae protocols, she act of pecformiag and thestcalxing qucemess in publ takes on ere multiplying sgificance. 1 feo this fue, his draw, when I encounter Marga Gomez's performances Marga Gomes Preey Witr, and Gap. 2 1992 performance by the Cuban and Puerco Rican-Ametican att, is 2 meditation on the contemporacyzealixy of being queer in North Amesca, Gomer’ show is staged on asec thats mesnt ro lok ike ber bed- room. Mach of her monologue i delivered fom het bed The space ofa que be room is thus brought into the public purview of dominane culture. Despite the Bower. Hardwick US. Supreme Court deison, which has eficcaty disored the tight to petvacy of al gays and lesbians, in essence apening ll our bedrooms to the stare, Gomez willy and dfiandy performs he prety, wit, and gay self in public Her performance permits che spectator, often 2 queer who hus beza locked out of the halls of presentation of rendered s atic catcanaze these, 10 itnagine 2 wodd | where queer lives, pois, and possibile ae representable in their complexicy. ) ‘The importance of such public and semipublic enactments of the bybid self cannot ! be undervalue inrelacon tothe formasion of counrerpublics that contest the hg sonic supremacy of the msjcitarian pubic sphere. Specacles such at those that Gomer presents offer he einositarian subject a space ro szuateiselfin history and thus seize socal agency. iMorga Gomes. Curtey of Narga Geax irropuerion 3 want to briefly consider a powerful moment in hee performances that demnon- strates disidentfication wich mainstream cepresentations of lesbians in the media, From che petch of her bed, Gomez reminisces about her fst interaction wih let bians in the public sphere ae the age ofcleven. Marga heats a voice chat suramons her down to the living room. Marge, wo at vis age bas already developed what she calls “homosewual hearing,” catches the voce of David Susdcind explaining thac he will be interviewing “lady homosexuals” on this episode of his show Open Ene. Gomes t= ‘counts her televiual eduction: (sat next so ay mocher on he sofi. I made sute to put that homophobic x- ppresion on my face. So my mother wouldn’s think I war mesmerized by the lady homosexuals and cveted 10 every word that fll from thei ip, They were very depeesed, very gloomy. You don't gee che blue unless you've broken up with Marina, There were three of them. All disguised in raincomts, dark lasses, wig. Te waste wigs char made me want ta be one. She then chansels the lesbian panelists: ‘Mr, Susskind, I wart ro thank yu foe having the courage to present Cherene and Mile and me ax your program. Chezeae and Milles me those arn. ‘ur rel names She's not Cheene he's not Mile, and Tm not me, Thos ce jus our, you now, synonyms. We mast oak oureles in ave of era oF rik losing or employment as rk deve. Gores lusatiates in the seemingly homophobic image ofthe truck-deving doseted Giese! dyes, In this perdic rendesing of pre-Seonewall wexcoryps of lxbians she performs her disideniicatory desi for this once ease representation. The phobic object through a campy overahe zp performance is econigred a sxy and glam ‘orous; and noc asthe patheric and abject spetzcle tht it appeats tobe in she domi inane eyes of heteronormasive culure. Gomet’s public peformance of memory isa power dsdendcation with the hisory of lesbian sereorying in the publi sphere. The images of chess lesbian sercoeypor ae rendered inal che bjection, yet Gomes rtabiliames thee images cling ateation to the mystetious erdc tat interpellted ber as lesbian, Goruers mother was appareny bliviows to this inser pallston, asa Inet moment in the performance text makes pateat. Gomez vice deepens a6 she goes int bullager mode apna, miescking the Ibis who i known a me and not me Me, Susskind. Whei you are in de fe achat we, is eset ro le ia Greenwich Vilage or no ea all Aes ie we wat 0 ay“ o 836 fiend who is watching this ar home wich her mom am WNEW-TV in “Masopeque, Long Ind. Marga Gomes? Marge Gomes, welcome the cub, sare mia Despite the fact thar the lesbian flicks her eongue at Marga on the seren, her moth ‘tmpped in the realm of deep denial does nor ge it. OF course, i is probably 24 INrRopuerion good thing chat she did noc ge it The fact chat Marga was able co hess the lsbian's call while her mother tuned ont, tha she was capable of recognining che care being discussed as her owa fice, contributed, in no srall pat, to her survival asa lesbian, Disidentifcarion is meant to be descriptive of the survival seareges che minocny! subject practices in order to negotiate a phobie majortaian public sphere that con-! tinuously elides or punishes the existence of subject who do noe conform to the ‘phaneason of normative citizenship. In this inseance, Marge’ dsidenification wich these damaged stereotypes recycled chem as powerfal and seductive sites of self creation. Ie was, afterall the wigs that male her want tobe one. I possess my own hazy memories of Suskind’ show and others ik it. Tremersoer being quay mesmeriza by ocher talkshow devianss who would appear long afer 1 ‘yas supposed to be asleep in my South Foca horse. Those shows wee, ss Gomez described them, smoky and seedy spectaces. Afr al this wes during my ows cild- hhood in the 1970s, before the flo of feaks that now appear on prth and het counties clones, I remember, for instance, seeing an amazingly quecay Truman Capote describe the wor of fellow ere Jack Kerouac as not writing but nstad, ‘pping, Lam cermin chac my pre-out consciousness was completly tried by the oshy spectacle of Capote’ performance, Bur [also remember feeling a deep pleasure in heutng Capote make language, in geting” the fan bitchines oF his gulp Tike Gomes, Fcan loate that experience of suburban specarorship as having a dsideati- catory impact on me. Cagotes performance was 2 ehilating a it was tering. This memory was powecfully reucivaed for me when I first saw Marge Gomis I Fray Wits and Gay. ee performance, one that elicited disidentiistary spectator: ship, transported me wa diferent place and time. Her peformance did che work of ‘prying open memory for me and elucidating one importane episode of self-formation. |e wricng this Tneodveion,T wene back to check my sources ro determine ex: actly when and on which show Capote fist made this sarement, was surprise e9 discover, while Mipping chrough a Capote biography, that while che wite did indeed rake this cuting remark on the David Sahind Shou at remark aed during a 1959 episode dedicated ro the Bests in which escablshed writers Capote, Notman ‘Mails, and Dorothy Patker were evaluating the worth of the then younger genera tion of writers. Capote’s quip was in response ro Maile’ asertion thar Kerouze was the bese writer of his generation. The orginal broadcast, which was the sme year as the Cuban Revolution, sired eight year before my own birth and sx years before my parents emignited to Miami. I mention all ofthis not o set the record sagt but to stare w the revsionary aspects of my own disidentientory memory of Caparcs perfotmance. Pethaps {read about Capote comment, oF I may have sen a rerun of tha broadest ewelve or thitteen years aes. Bur T da know this my memory and subjectivity reformatted that memory, lectng ic work within my own internat narra- tives of subject formation. Gomes performance helped and even instructed this t= neRopuerion 5 remembering, enabling me tw somehow understand the power and shame of queer ness, Now, looking through the dace glass of adulthood, I ara beginning to under stand why I needed that broadcast and memory of tha performance, which [may or ‘may not have actually seen, tobe part of muy sel, ‘The theoreti conceptuaizaions and figurations chat Ash out this book are ia- debted to che theoretcalpracicl work of Gomed® performance. For me there would bbe no theory, ao Diidensfations wichoue the calsural work of people such as Gomes, Such performances constitute the politcal and conceprual centr of this study. want ro note that, for me, the making of theory only ernepires afr the ats? per otmance of countecpubliccy is realized for my own disidentficatory eyes, It is also important to note ar the beginning af tis hook chat cisidentifcation is hot always an adequate strategy of resistance o¢ survival for all minotiey subject. At stance needs to be pronounced and ditece on other occasions, quects af calor and ocher minority subjects need ra fallow a conformist path if they hope «9 survive a hostile public sphere. But for some, disidentificaion isa survival seategy thae works within end outside the dominant public sphere simultaneously. The te- ‘mainder ofthis Inroduction will elaborate disideneification through a survey of dif ‘erent theoretical paradigms, Dissng identi ‘The fiction of identity is one that is accessed with relative ease by most majoritarian subjees. Minortarian subjees need to interface with different subculeral felds ro activate their own senses of self This is norco say char majortarin subjects have no ecourse to dsidentiication or thas their own formation as subject is not stuctured tkcough multiple and sometimes conflicting sites of identification. Within late capi- tala, all subject citizens are formed by shar Néstor Garcia Canclini has called “hybsid ansformations generated by the horizontal coexistence of a number of symbolic systems." Yet, che sory of identity formation predicated on “hybrid tas formations" that tig text is interested in welling concerns subjects whose identities are formed in response tothe cultural logics of hereronormativity, white supremacy, snd misogyay—cultural logics chat T will suggest work to undesgind_scate-power. ‘The disidencificatory performances that 2re documented and discussed here circa late in subcuftira circuits and steve to envision and activate new social relations. ‘These new social relations would be the blueprint for minoritarian counterpublic spheres. ‘This study i infotmed by the belief thatthe use-value of any narrative ofidenti- ‘9 thac reduces subjectivity to ciher a socal éonstrucivet model or what has been called an essentialist undesstanding of che selfs especialy exhausted. Clearly, neither story is complete, but che way in which these understandings of the self have come to be aligned with each other as countersarttivesis now a standard protocol of cheory- 4s6 — anraopuction snuking processes that ate no loager of much use. Political theorise Wiliam E. Connolly argues that [ilo wont iene os se a which entrenched diposiiane encounter socially constituted definitions is noc to insist chat any such definicon will fe every shaman being equally well or badly. Some possibilities of socal definition are smote suitable for catain badies and certain individeals, parriclaly after each ‘had branded into ic as “second nature” a stare of dispositions, proclvies, and preliminary seeundersandiogs. ‘Connoly understands ident asa ste of srapple where Seed dispositions desh squint cocillyconsiwed defnions, This account of idencey offen us a reprieve fom the sow sale cseniism versus antcwersalies debates tha surround stories of selformation? The policeal sheoti’s formulations understand idenisy ax pro- duced a the poine of contac between exental undestandings of self Gued disposi tions) and socially conseucted naraives of self The chaps that makeup this study arcempeto char the ways in which identity i enacted by minor sabjece who must souk with/esit the conditions of Gim)pasibilty chat dominant cltue generates The cull performers Fam considesing in chis book mst nego becwesa a xed ‘entry disposition and se socially encoded rls thar avalable for such subjecs ‘The esemtlzed understanding of identity Ge, mea ae like thie, Latinas ate like hax, quces are that way) by is very are must reduce idence olowestcommon- denominator tems. There i an esata blackness, fr example in varousszins of black nationale thinking and i ir decidedly hetrorenual Socially encoded erie of idenity are often formatted by phobic enesies around race, sexual, gender, anc vatious other idensfcsory diincions,Folowing Connolly’ lead, I undewstand the ldbor (andi is ote, if no always, word of making identity asa process vba takes pace a the point of colision of perspectives that some cites snd theorists have wa dlearood a exendaline and constructivist. Tis collision is precly the moment of negotiation when hybrid ally predicaed, and deviany genre identiies aztve sc representation. I doings, representacoal contract x broken the queer and the ‘lore come inco perception and the soil order crves a joe thas may ceverberare loudly and widely or in less dramas, yt locally indispensable, ways ‘The venion of identi pois that this book partcipaes in imagine a recon- scructed narative of identity formation chat locates the enacting of sl se preiely the poine where the discourses of esentialism and constructivism short-crait. Such ‘entities use and ace the fruits ofa pace of dsdentifcatory eeepéon and perfor smance. The ten idenierinedifrence ia highly efecvewcm ot categoriing the Ideniies that populate these pages. This rem is one of the many figurations that I borow fom Thizd World feminists and radical women of cals, especially Chicas ‘theorist, who have gael contabuted co discourses that expand and zadicalze ida tity Gloria Amzalda and Cheerle Moraga in tei individual wings and in their groundbreaking anthology This Bridge Called My Back: Writing by Radical Wersen of merRopventon 7 Goon, have pushed forward the idea of a rica feminise of color identity chat shrewdly reconfigure identity fora progressive poli agends. Th cread chat His cmanared ftom those wltes is intzmsfed and made cogent for an acadetnic cise course by Chela Sandoval in her theory of diffrentialcnecowsnes All f these wre <2 ideas abou identity are taken up by Norra Alar in er infueial etc. In fone particular enay, Alaredn symtheszes the wore of Anmldia, Morga, and Sandoval, along with the other chcores of difference put forward by Audre Londe and Jacques Derrida (who employs che erm difinere), in am actexape wo describe and decipher ideniy indifference By working though the “idenigpin-iffrence” parador, many ras! women theorts ive implicdy wodeed in the inewdee/intelace of (exixentialis) “eleniy pli” and “postmodernism” without 2 ler ox modemist agenda, Neither Autre Lorde not Chela Sandovas notion of diferenceldifferentat com: sciousness subsumes « Desrdean thearnation—though resonances cannot be deni and most be explored —so much a presents a proces of "decenmined, negation,” a aay-suying of the variewy ofthe “not ye, tha’ nat it.” The ctve behind chat “nor yevtats nc if” postion in Sundovas work is termed “lille eailconsciowines,” in Lord's wont “diffrence,” and in Dexica’swouk, dé Pict. Yee cach invokes disimilaly located circuits ofsignieasion cadfed by the se of emergence, which nevertheless does not obviate thei agreement on the “not yes.” which poines towards a furare : Alas linking of these comeegent ye dsimilr modest mace posible bythe fice thar thee dilferene paradigms attempt eo catalog “sts of emetgeace,” The dsdentie {story identgy performances 1 catalog in these pages are all emergent identiviesin- % difecence. These idemtiterin-dilference emerge from « filed interpellaion within the dominant public spre. Their emergence i predicted oa their bility to dsden- ‘ify wieh the mass public and instead, through this dsdentiation, contribute o che function of « eounterpublic sphere. Although I use teens such a6 “minortaian sub- jee or dhe less jtgony “people of color/quees of colo” to describe the different cal ure workess who appear in these pages, I do want wo sate that all of these formacons oF dentity ae “identities indierence” ‘The szice psychoanalytic agcount of identification is important to reheatse at this poine. Jean Laplanche and Jein-Bertand Pontalis define “identifation” in the fellowing way: “(A] prychological proces whereby the subject assimilates an aspect, propesty or atibate of che other and is transformed, wholly or parlly after the ‘model he other provides. Ii by means ofa series of ideniications chat the person- aly is consctured and specified¢ Can a self or a personality be crafted without Proper ideniications? A dsidentifying subjec is unable to fully identify vo form ‘what Sigmund Freud called that juste” relationship. In the examples I am en- saging, what stops idendifcaion from happening is always the ideological restic- sions implicit in an idenifcarory site.$ —wrRosveriOn INTRODUCTION 9 schema of homoscnuaiy is well enough knows.” In his chapter on colonial deni, Fanon dismisses the posibility of homosexual component in such an enti fox sion. Ths move is not uncommon: its basically wndeestod aan “i white hing” distil of queeress, Thnk, for a moment, ofthe qaccr evolaionay from the Angles, pesbaps a young wornan who bas alteady been burned in Fanon’ text by his ‘writing on the colonized woman. What process can leep an identfiction with anon, his politics, his work posible for this woman? In sich a case, « dsdentifcx ‘Gon with Fanon might be one ofthe only ways in which she is capable of reformat ting che powerful theorist fo her own projec, one shar might be as queer and Ses sta itis anieolonal. Dsidentiaron ofes 4 Fanon, fr hac queer and lesbian ” reades, who would not be sunitizod; instead, his homophobia and sasogyay would be incerrogted while is anticolonial discourse was engaged sa sill valuable yet me- dared ideuiicaion. This maneuver rests at unprogvtvesirn coward goed dog/ bred dog ecm and instead leads ro an identification chat sb medida im sedate, adsidentifcation that enables poli, “The phenomenon of the ques isa white thing” fantasy is strangely cefleced in severe by the normativity of whitencs in mainstream North American gay cular ‘Marlon Rig made chisargumene with eiidcal Serceness in his groundbreaking ideo Tanger Used (1988, where be discussed being lst in asa of ranila once he «ame ou and moved co San Francisco. A segment inthe vdeo begins alow clot-up one high-school yearbook image of abiond white box. The images accompanied by Race Myopias/Gueer Blind Spots: Disidentifying with “Theory ” a voice-over narration that discusses this boy, this frst love, as both a blessing and, 6 Ditidewifeatonsis meant to oe lens to elucidate miorivarian polis that is nots nally curse, The narative then shife eo seenes of what seems to be a euphoric ‘monoestisal or monochemari one that is calibrated to discern 2 multiplicity of inter- (Castzo dserice in San Francisco where semiclad white bodies food the streets of the locking ideniy components and che ways in which they afer che social, Cultural famous gay acighboshood, Riggs voie-over performance ofés 2 etimony that i studies of race, dass, gender, and sexuality ate highly segregated. The optic that I wish functions as shrewd analysis of the force af whiteness in queer culture: [ fiona oy bw + ae Socal ll toca Kine _--—~ In Glfsa {leaned he tc 2nd ane of snow, Crting white hor I 1 William Crenshaw, inerectonal® Crenshaw’ theory of intersectionality is meane to shoe played our adolescent dreams defered, Patterns of black upon white upon black account for convergence of blac and feminis cel iss within a paradigm tae! Upon whie meuneral me T fused hand, concentrate deep. Maphe fom ein aor rahe ba fer a3 ona time <9 sine brother glanced my way. Cneyer noted. I yas immersed i Saco in beth ofthese components and ceplaces what she as refered ‘ala I savored the single favor, one delibertly noe my own. I voided the ‘The processes of crafting and performing the self that Texamine here ae nat best caplained by recourse to linear accouns of identification. As critics who work on and ‘with identity polities well know, ideatifcation is noe about simple mimesis, but, as Bre Kosoflky Sedgwick reminds us in the ineroduction to The Epistemology ofthe Clot “alvays includes mekkiple processes ofidentifing with. It also involves idenc- fication as agsinss bur even did it not, the rations implicit in identifying with ae, as psychoanalysis suggests, in chemselves quite suiiendly fraught with intensities of Incorporation, diminishment, inflaton, threat, loss, eparation, and disavow.” Iden sification, chen, as Sedrick explains, is never a simple projec. Mendiying with an object, person, lifeele, history, polis ideology, religious orientation, and s0 on, seas also simultaneously and partially counceidentfying, aswell as only partially identlying, with dflerene aspects of che social and peyhc wor Although the vatious processes of deatfication are frag, those subjects who are filed by more than one minority identity component have 26 especially at- cduous time of ic. Subjects who are ouside che purview of dominant publi spheres sacounter obstacles in enacting identfcarions. Minority identifications ate often ae- elec or ancagonistc to other minosesian positionalice. This i ar tue of difer sot sheoredcal pacadigmas ait is of everyday idcologes. The next section delineates the biases and tuf-war chinking thar make an identity construct such as “queer of color" diffcute wo inhabit ft i i causal paradigms tha can oly consider lacks athe expense of feminism or vice raica “Wine Poses kcl ot io noche he a eee incite oe ve. These monocaus prowoeals are esablshed trough the eprdction of nor- owen bookece, pes shop En fas my ow fetes Ted mative accounts of woman that always imply a white feminist subject and equally | ‘not co notice the fee images of Blacks that were most popular: joke, fei, car- ormatvzing accounts of blackness that assume malenes, toon eer, o dco dive adored fom a iance, Something in Or in me, These no:mativizing protocols keep subjects fiom accessing identities. We see west amis, bur wed noo nate, Les inno he ech love, fia, “het deslogial burs to mukpleidexiowions in «foundational eal sees Seige erection in ef Masa. eae, Sering fond sacking L sex such as Franz Fanos Black Sting, White Mas, the pat meatier eae Cn peace ea onl nat lind me tse onthe colonized mind In afownote, Fanon wrote wit efor any contemporary stance. No hiner, no place No ellecion. I was aie, unsee, and ten, shomophobie reader an inammatnry uncrance: “Let me observe atone that I waned. Here, cin Hepa, Twas aig, sl. quite Caio was 20 ta no opportunity eo exablsh the over: presence of homaseraliy in Martinique longer ny home, ay msca (never mt) and Tene in search of some This mus be vowed st the absent ofthe Oedipus complex in the Antes. The sing bes,| fo TRopucTION ono gsi gues ead Caryl rn ‘This ancedotl eading of queer cleurés whitenes isa tie that touches various serata of queer culeure. Tinguet Untied has been osly miscead as being @ “vice ‘tos of whic people sid the SIM communi in general, Consider Jon Champagne’ apologise defense ofthe mainstream gay communi’ faci asa standard maneuver by embaled whie gay men when thet account of victimization is undercut by ee erence oral pv survey ofthe vast majority of gay and lesbian studies and qusercheory in pine shows the same absence of coloed images at does the powesful pecformance in Tongues Unied. Most ofthe comestones of queer theory that are ugh, cited, and canonized in gay and lesbian stucies assooms, publications, and conferences ae secidedly directed roward analysing white lsbians and gay men. The lack of incla- sion is most certainly not the msn prtlem with che treatment of ace. A soft mli- caluzal inlision of race end etnicity does not, on its ovr, Jad to 2 progesive identi discourse. Wonne Yarbro-Bejaano har made the valle pone chat "dhe Jacke of arteaion to race inthe work of leading lesbian theists refi that ics possible ro talk about sexslicy without talking sbout rae, wii realism the belie tha iis necessary co alk abou race and sexuality only whea dis cussing people of calor and thie text." When rae is discussed by moos white quece ‘theorists, iis usually a contined reading of an arttof color that does not Fcror questions of ac into the ensiety of thelr project. Once agin taking up my analogy INTRODUCTION ‘with Riggrs monologue, T wane to argue that if che Castro was Oz for some gay men ‘ho joined a great quesr western migration, the eld of scholarship thai emerging ody as gay and lesbian studies is also another ecalm that is over the eainbow. The field of quoce theory, ike the Casteo tha Riggs porcays, sand E write from expeit- ence——a place where a scholar of calor can easly be lot in an imersion of vanilla, while Aer ox his eiicalfecutis canbe ftozen by an avalanche of snow. The powerful ‘queet feminist theoristactviss that ate most often cited—Lorde, Barbara Smith, Anzaldiia, aad Moraga, among others —are barely eves citcallycrgaged and instead ate, lite the disco divas that Riggs mentions, mesely adored froma distance, Tae fact ‘hat the vast majority of publications and conferencer thet fill our the discipline of queer cheory continue io treat race as an addendum, if eal, indicates that there is ” Something amiss in this Oz, 10, The Péchevxin Paradigm ‘The theory of disidenifcation that Iam offering is meant to contribute to-an under- standing ofthe ways in which queers of eolor identify with ethos or queemess de- spite the phobic charges in both Selds. The French linguist Michel Péchewx extrapo- laxed a theory of disidentifcation from Marxist dheorse Louis Althaser’infaental theory of subject formation and interpellaon. Alshuser’ “Ideology ad Ideological SrateAppuratuses” was among the Frst articulations ofthe role of ideology in theoria- ing subject formation. For Alshuse, ideology isan inescapable realm in which sub- jects are called into being ot “hile.” a process he calls ineepellation. Ideology sche Imaginary telsonship of individuals wo their eal conditions of existence. The locx- ‘ion of ideology is alway within an gppearurand its pracic or pracrices, such asthe state apparaeas? -yPécheux built on this theory by describing the three modes in which a subject is constructed by ideological practices. In this schema, the first mode is understood a3 “identification,” where a “Good Subject” chooses the path of identification with dliscursive and ideological forms, “Bad Subjects” resis and atemipt co rejec he in- ages and identifcaory sites offered by dominant ideology and proceed 20 rebel, 0 2 eounterdentify” and turn agains this symbolic system. The danger that Péchaux secs in such ao operation would be che counterdeteumination that such a gsm in- stalls, a sructre tht validates the dominant ideology by teinforcng its dominance Hhvough the controlled symmesry of “souneendetexmination.” Disidenifiaton is the thd modef dealing ith daninan deol one hac nhs ops nasi] ‘Within such a ster noe stily opposite rather, disidentification isa seategy. aa ‘works on and against dominant ideology Instead of bucking under the presures of dominaa ideology (identification, assimilation) of axempting to break feof is in- | «capable sphere (counteridentiation, utopianism), this “working on and aginst is | 4 sratgy shat tries to transform 2 culeural logic fom within, ahways laboring to enact | 0 A ee2 intRopucTIoN petmanent structural change while a the tame time valuing the importance of local or everyday sugges of resiance Judith Baler gsc coward the ass of dsdentication when discussing the Blur of idesifeation. She paves with Slavoj Ziel, who understands disidensicay tion 2 a breing down of political posi, “sReionalization tothe point of po- lisa immobilization." She counters Zit by asking the flowing question of his formulations. "What ar the posbiies of plitciing disidenication, this experi eee of misecognition, this uneay sense of nding unde sign to which one does and does not Belong?” Buuler answers “ie may be cat the aftmation of thet sip age, that the flue of demtcation, i vel the pon of deparrre for a move de- smocatising afirmation of intemal diffrence.” Boch Bute’s and Péchea’s ac counts of diidentifcaion put forward an undensanding of idenifcaon 2 never ‘being ax sumless or unin as the Freudian account would suggest. Both the sins constrict the subject as inside ideology. Their models permit one to examine theories of a subject who is neither the “Good Subjecs.” who hasan easy ot mpical ‘denifeaon with dominanc calc, or dhe “Bed Subject” who imagines herself outside of ideology: Instead, they pave the way to an understanding ofa “send (| exwry subject” who tactically and simlancously woeks on, with, and spunea cul” ‘ural fran. As practice, dsidemifcation does not dispel thot ideslogical coatradctory clement; rates, lke 2 melancholic ubject hong onto lst objec, a dsidendify dng sabjest works to old on co this objec and ives i with new lf. Sedgwick, in het work onthe affect, shame, and is role in queer perfocentvity, har explained: ‘The forme taken by shame arena dsiect “woric” pars of group or individ Hlenccy chat can be excised: they aze instead integral to and eesidal ia the press in which iden is formed. They are aaiale forthe wook of mae smorpbosis reaming, igurain, sandgurséan affective and synblic load ing and deformation: bor unaraable for esting the work of purgaon and deonteogial done” "To disideniy isto read once and onc’ own life narrative in & moment object oF subjes tha isnot caleually coded ro “connect” wich dhe dsidetitying subject. eis not to plck and choose what one takes out ofan identification, Fes not to wilfully evacuate che politially dubious or shameful components within an idenifeatory locus. Rather iis che reworking of those energies that do not elie te "arf o concadictory components of any identity. Ii an aceptance of the necosaty inte. jeccon tha has occured in uch situations, Dikidenfcationsis, ro some degee, an argument with pychoanalyticorthodox- ies within cultural studies. does so represent wholesale rejection of poycaoanaly- fs Indeed, one’ own relationship wish pychounalyst can be didentifeator. Rather than reject psychoanalytic accounts of denifiaton, the nex section engages ireopucrion 35 work on identification and desire being done in the psychoanalytic wing of queer theory. Ldentication beyond and with Paychoonayis “The homophobic and rcs vicinus of prychoanalyis version of denscation Save been explved by varios ets. Diana Fus, fr insane, has shown the ways in which Freud consracted a fle dichowomy beeween: dese and indication. Desse is the way in which "propec’ object choices are made and idenifcaion is @cem used to expicete e pathological investment that people make with bad objec choices Fass propores a new theory of identification based on # vampicic under sanding of subjectivity formation: Vamps works more like an inverted form of ideiScsion —ideniGeation pulled inside our—where the subject in thea of iceiong de he, si Frultaneouly cproduces exemaly ia the other. Vampicem i both other incorporating and self eprodcing ie delimie « more ambiguods space where desce and Hentifcation appeal oppoed than combos wher the desire to bethe other (denifcation) draws is very astenance from he dese to have fe oer” “The inconportion of the othe in chisacoune is in stark opposition 10 Freud’ er= sion, in which ‘deadifeaion is digetbued along sags, all leologiallycalbrated coward (Compulsory) hereroseuality- Fuss revisionary approach to psychoanalysis insists om desire’ covrminous elaionsip with dendfcaton Fuss groundbreaking work on idemtcarion bas been met wich great skepti cium by Tees de Laure, who discount thi theory on che grounds tae it wil ther blur the ines hecweea specifically lesbian sexuality and eubjecvty and fersnie cakes on female sexuality and subjectivity De Laure approach, also revisionary, cakes che ticle of submitating dese for identification in che mariive of psycho: analysis Forde Laureds, lesbian desc is noe predicate by ot inplicated within any structure of dentfeation much lest rsedencations). Her approach o desis xo expand i and leit cover and replace what she sera fr too ambiguous notion ofidentfcaion. On tis point, I side with Fass end other queee theorists who shaze the same revistonary impulse as de Lanrts bu who ate nota concerned with desing the lines of proper, eciprocal derive aging: what she views a oblique cro identifications. substantial section of chaprer 1, “Famous and Dandy like B. Andy.” is concerned with the power of costidensfiations beeween two ats, Jean ‘Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, who da not match along the lines of race, sexial- ity, dass, or generation. This suasegy of reading the ewo artns together and in rae tion to each other i informed by a politics of coalition antithetical ro che politics of sepaeasism that I see a2 foundational premise of de Laurerss project. The politcal agenda suggested here does nor uniformly reject separasism either; more neatly ic is wary of separarom because i s no alovays 2 feasible option for subjecs who are not14 wvTRopuerion empowered by white privilege or class sass, People of coor, queers of calor, white queer, and other minorities occasionally and understandably lng for separatist ex j devs ounide of the dominant clare. Sich enclaves, however ate often polically | alsadvancageous whea one stops co consider she ways in which the social serge de- {pends on minority fusions and isolationism to msathn the stats of the domi | aanconde: Disidenifaton wos like the mmaking of ideniication that Pus advoctc. Counseideniicaion, the ane at disolving or abolishing eotenched cultural fonnations, conesponds wy de Lawstis substintion of desire for ientfeaon. In Ientfoatin Paper, ber book on Freud, prychoanalyss, and ideation, Fase si incl hstorcies the long standing confsion beeen the teins den an identifi. ‘ation. She pus pressure on te ditnesionberween wanting he ther and wanting 9 be the other, us marks the ditneton benvecn chese tems as “prearous a best.” Valeatin, a documescary subject in Augie Robles groundbreaking short docu mentary Chole Jot (1993), comes to recognize an easly communal identicason ith Che Guevara as being, on both a sebjecive and a communal evel about dese. ing Fl Che. Robe’ vdeo inccvews dee young Chicano men in dhe early wea dies, The documentary subjecs expound on che quotidian dimensions of queer Chicano life in ef barrio and she white pay ghetto. Chola fous inal sequence fetes 4 peafarmance by Valentin. Valenti, hair licked back and lips ecened wich a dark Jipck, cums in a capvaing peeformance forthe video carers, He st in a chat throughout his monologue, ye the wit and charm of his performed persoa defy the convencons of “lking head which sto sy ha he snot o much the talking head 2 he isa petformer in collaboration with the video anst. Afr reflecting on the “siednes of Chicano nationalisms sexism and homophobia, kets an ety chile hood story that disidenifes with the sript of Chicano nationalism, And I gew up in Login Height, We kad murs, Chicano patk was remen- dous. Now ta Im poe there Tksow what it Buta the Ge you would wale ‘hough and se thee ge aural, There Wat a mural of Che Guevara, i sal dee, withthe quote“ sue bel guided by deep elings of love fe, member reading at Ui dan thinking, wha he ick oes tat mean? ‘hen Irae, ye, tha sight That fm not going to gh ov of ange bt ‘ecas ITove mui nd Toe ay consi For Valentin, this emembesing serves a «sing cezvention of Che Guevara By working through his queee childs cuiosity fm the postionality of a pay (Chicano maa, Valenin uneachsa powerful yer eve queer Remain revoliionaey! lberationis dense. Guevara, both cultural icon and reeluionary thinkes ad @ significant influence on the ealy Chicano maovement, as be did on all Tied ‘World movements, In this video peformance, Guevara stands in forall tae was promising and uropian about the Chicano movement. He also represent the en ftenched misogyny and homophobia of masculine Ubcration ideologies. Vlenin's mermopuerion 15 reads that queee valence that has always sub- erforsnaace of memory, ee er, i Tis performance does not simply mal cared such ext naoals hough : dy eb nad hopes oie ch ous hi tum ac ae piel progresive .. Tt arsenate eatwors on Freud know: that the stony we are often fd, our prestibed “publi” ‘pe! enna ou ite an otrasing da net elie ‘eka bors The pm hese pe ee ori asta the muon, Rater is 9 undertand the soretiesixoking a seamen separate nd matally extae nar ofboth st tes. se eology fr de Tasseis seeas to be an aierwond so desire. Tn his boo, il be enngtaat the wie in which deste end ideation canbe tempsed and Ten eine o bane) cg ein Cee sna (ip ele! hy te Soman publishers eer aes ee icra bad cba oe hr rove of reaony eons sae rethaanclegns ion, ques desis, eaps doves thc need fr oh tur eo y seg component at Sih mola of ae deiing ate to slecomproising We hus den Cie ie. We te ade a ene The | aan jewece dest entation, an cology are prt ofthe spore ne diidenification. Disidontification’s Work My thinking bose the power and poignancy of escrowed deni and dest Fe wits sch as umes Baldwin is pr ing casa ndtv the Wa te lbenno a ode Lane, ir sans, Ban 7h Do nor» boklengh ou. deus og Bev afin ude a her Pipl and vl be nd a be nd 3 fe na pel en re ewe ws aa Saranayafteroom aie ei alin wie ey feeoon inde me 2 So er, now, was Bete Davo he Sy : a Gan pop. poping anode. ad cgi my a eee ee a ara, or hee oe me afer ala vi am lish war ila vas ic ad wa Suafeemns oor my othe pb bate casey mening and uty (ere, ein in te 08 “Scag Sp htt he poh oof mag oa es buss ashe se bye ee nelle Fee Ger of ep and cn the moved she moved ot ike sige : is ech in the wif “Te rsidenfcaton sat Baldwin vil eribes hore ries of chdboed debe ae a hs Inrodutin, What gee aos