Topological spaces of embodied becoming: queens, queerness, and (infra)structural subterfuge in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the political potential that emerges when theorizations of the body-as-infrastructure are brought into conversation with theorizations of topological space. It argues that the infrastructural body provides an interface through which structural norms can be destabilized, and the interrelationships between the state, society, and self can be reimagined. These ideas are illustrated through an empirical exploration of drag queens in Singapore. Singapore is a socially conservative Asian city-state in which heteronormative values are passed down by the state, reproduced through the family, and then used to structure societal understandings of gender and sexuality. By interpreting Singapore’s hegemonic state-society spaces in topological terms, drag queens reveal a modality of queerness that is not necessarily deviant, or apart-from, the country’s non-queer public spaces, but is mutually constitutive of them instead. Through (infra)structuralization, the drag body reveals a potentiality that transcends the strictures of everyday life. Accordingly, the paper advances the politico-theoretical promise of ‘Queer Asia’.

KEYWORDS:

• Infrastructural bodies
• topological space
• drag queens
• Queer Asia
• Singapore

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

Research for this paper was supported by the Lee Kong Chian Fellowship, Singapore Management University

Notes on contributors

Orlando Woods

Orlando Woods is an Associate Professor of Geography and Lee Kong Chian Fellow at the College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University. His research interests include, but are not limited to, bodies, space, and queer theory in/and Asia.