Queer theory impossible

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the institutional construction of “queer theory” as a field in the United States and its translation and subsequent failure outside the U.S. Despite presenting itself as a critical field of inquiry, queer theory has been centered in the most privileged institutions in the global North, primarily in the U.S. I investigate how U.S.-centric queer theory has built upon the international division between “theory” and “case,” rooted in colonial science and knowledge production, particularly in relation to sexuality and race. To address these issues, I analyze the controversy surrounding the publication and translation of the edited volume, Queer Korea, from Duke University Press’s acclaimed Perverse Modernities series, focusing on research ethics and hegemonic whiteness. I argue that this controversy demonstrates how contemporary U.S.-centric queer theory appropriates and capitalizes on the language of “decentering,” “provincializing,” or “decolonizing” at the expense of marginalized queer lives, struggles, and knowledge outside the U.S.

KEYWORDS:

• Queer theory
• politics of translation
• decoloniality
• hegemonic whiteness
• empire

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This essay was initially published in Munhakdongne, a Korean literary journal, in June 2023, and has been translated from Korean into English by the original author with the permission of Munhakdongne and Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. In this English version, a few additional footnotes have been added to reflect on the changes since the Korean publication.

2 Michèle Aina Barale, Jonathan Goldberg, Michael Moon, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. “Series Q: Overview,” Duke University Press Webpage (https://www.dukeupress.edu/series/Series-Q).

3 Lauren Berlant, Lee Edelman, Benjamin Kahan, and Christina Sharpe, “Theory Q: Overview,” Duke University Press Webpage (https://www.dukeupress.edu/series/Theory-Q).

4 Jack Halberstam and Lisa Lowe, “Perverse Modernities: Overview,” Duke University Press Webpage (https://www.dukeupress. edu/series/Perverse-Modernities-A-Series-Edited-by-Jack-Halberstam-and-Lisa-Lowe).

5 In the case of José Esteban Muñoz, who passed away, or Lisa Rofel and M. Jacqui Alexander, who retired, their last institutional affiliation was counted. “Editorial Board,” Duke University Press Webpage (https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/pages/Editorial_Board).

6 Similarly, the current editors-in-chief of GLQ, the thirty-year-old flagship journal for queer theory published by Duke University Press, who decide which articles, essays, and book reviews to publish, which special issues to organize, and who to invite to serve as special issue editors, belong to the prestigious private institutions: University of Chicago and University of Washington, respectively. The two dozen editorial board members, who review the vast majority of the journal’s submissions, also come from the Ivy League (Yale, Columbia, Pennsylvania), major state universities (UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, Maryland), and major universities in the global North (Cambridge, KCL, Manchester, York, Uppsala, Hong Kong Baptist).

7 These are the queer/trans students of color who chose the school farthest from home to escape their families and neighbors, but are afraid to come out even in a queer theory class; the students who are homeless or have to defer graduation to escape their heteronormative/cisnormative “home”; the students who come to class with their infants to protect themselves and their children from domestic violence; the students who don’t have desktops or laptops, and whose essays written on their smartphones during their part-time shifts are full of scribbles and typos (Brim 2020, 21).

8 These include Taylor & Francis Group and Palgrave Macmillan in the United Kingdom, Springer in Germany, and Elsevier in the Netherlands.

9 The introduction to the book, which is distributed by Duke University Press to major libraries around the world, is as follows: “In addition to compiling the first volume focused on queerness in Korea, including work from the South Korean academy, this volume … ” (UCLA Library; Northwestern University Library; Vanderbilt University Library).

10 Nam Woong, “Regret, Tim Gitzen, and Queer Korea,” Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea Webzine (https://lgbtpride.tistory.com/1791), 25 February 2023. In April 2023, this Korean essay was translated into English and disseminated widely on social media platforms by the anonymous group, Queer Research Ethics Council. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YO7JlQupnHbJaxeZtgRZMFqtixglfdkpkKZhr8SXhzQ/edit). The following account of the process of publishing the Korean edition of Queer Korea is based on the Korean queer activist Nam Woong’s own writing. I am grateful to Nam Woong and Jeong Seong Jo for crosschecking the account.

11 Todd Henry on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/todd.henry.7505), 3 March 2023.

12 Since the issue was raised in late 2020, Timothy Gitzen has gone on to publish several English-language scholarly articles based on his dissertation, with the names of all activists and organizations anonymized, and has since secured a professorship in Korean cultural anthropology and queer theory in the anthropology department of a leading U.S. university. In late April 2023, he eventually posted his response on his personal website, asserting that a significant portion of the grievances were a result of miscommunication. Timothy Gitzen, “A Response to Recent Accusations.” 27 April 2023 (https://www.timothygitzen.com/statement).

13 In September 2023, Korean translators of Queer Korea issued a public statement in support of Korean queer activists. They claimed that they had been excluded from the decision-making process regarding ethical concerns and were even denied their request to include a “translator’s note” in the Korean edition, which attempted to address various ethical and power dynamics issues in the translation process. “Statement of Translators of Queer Korea.” 12 September 2023 (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Psd8A5YHgd7e2dm0Wn9kDIf_GZ0-CNGW2qtIKuKlADI/edit?usp=sharing).

14 Similarly, the media reports about the book, relying on the press release issued by the Korean publisher, further contribute to this sense of invisibility: “Why was this book written in North America and not in Korea? It’s because Korea is more of a ‘wasteland for queer research’.” (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 17 February 2023).

15 The publisher of the Korean edition also emphasizes the “diversity” of the contributors as a marketing strategy in the official book introduction, which states: “This book brings together nine articles authored by researchers from diverse backgrounds, encompassing different positions and disciplines, including Koreans educated in North America and Korea, white Americans, non-whites from the Korean diaspora and Taiwan.” Bookstore Aladin (https://www.aladin.co.kr/shop/wproduct.aspx?ItemId=310646672).

16 Queer Korea book launch at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy (1 June 2020); interview with The Korea File (25 September 2020); interview with Harvard’s Korean Student Association KORUM Human Rights Advocacy and Social Justice Panel (18 May 2021); and special lecture at The Korea Society (10 May 2022).

17 Todd Henry on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/todd.henry.7505), 3 March 2023.

18 Todd Henry on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/todd.henry.7505), 3 March 2023.

19 Gitzen, Timothy. 2018. “The Queer Threat: National Security, Sexuality, and Activism in South Korea.” PhD diss., University of Minnesota, p. ii.

20 Todd Henry on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/todd.henry.7505), 3 March 2023.

21 Todd Henry on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/todd.henry.7505), 3 March 2023.

22 In February 2024, a group of scholars, activists, and community organizers came together and launched the webpage of the Decolonizing Korean Studies Collective to address the colonial and racialized power dynamics manifested in the publication and translation of Queer Korea (https://dkscollective.com).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Minwoo Jung

Minwoo Jung is an assistant professor of sociology and women’s and gender studies at Loyola University Chicago. His work examines how various local and international actors comprehend, envision, and strategize for social transformation. His work has appeared in the British Journal of Sociology, The Sociological Review, Social Movement Studies, and positions: asia critique.