Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

4-2024

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 under- standings 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

Discipline

Asian Studies | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Sociology

Research Areas

Sociology

Publication

Journal of Gender Studies

Volume

33

Issue

4

First Page

446

Last Page

457

ISSN

0958-9236

Identifier

10.1080/09589236.2023.2213643

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2023.2213643

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