Queer Rhetoric in Situ

Rhetoric Review Apr 2016

Jean Bessette University of Vermont

Abstract

Queer theory often poses normativity as a primary exigency and target for queer resistance, which can result in anticipatory and ahistorical readings. A methodology of “queer rhetoric in situ” intervenes in this propensity by examining the contingent, historically specific relations among locally enforced norms, rhetors, acts, and multiple audiences. Queerness and normativity should be understood as shifting, fractured valences, rather than two cohesive opposing forces attached to perceived forms of sexual orientation, families, or activisms. A rhetorical case study of the Gay Liberation Monument’s controversial and delayed instantiation in New York’s Greenwich Village illustrates the stakes of this methodological shift.

Journal: Rhetoric Review
Published: 2016-04-02
DOI: 10.1080/07350198.2016.1142851
Open Access: Closed
Topics: gender and writing

Citation Context

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