Synthetic Solidarities: Theorizing Queer Affectivity and Trans*national/temporal Emulsification as Embodied Resistance to Global Capitalism

This dissertation theorizes the synthesis of solidarities around queer embodied performativities as a mode of making-resistant the everyday experiences of exploitation under transnational capitalism. These solidarities, I argue, are cultivated around the affective, embodied experiences of what José Esteban Muñoz terms "queer time," which I extend to denote the ephemeral, experiential sensations of being "out of sync" with the structures and norms of capital-space-time power assemblages. I theorize "emulsion" as a heuristic for envisioning synthetic solidarities as making space and time for the importantly distinct experiences of queer spatio-temporalities of those at the various intersections of marginalized/minoritized identities to coagulate and coalesce into something new – at once remaining beautifully fragmented and becoming grotesquely amalgamated beyond distinction. I suggest that such trans-spatial/temporal/material solidarities, formed via antinormative performativities and the curation of "revolting archives," existent and not-yet-formed alike, can and indeed already do resist the totalizing and unplaceable ether of increasingly transnational capitalism across scales. This dissertation takes form and transdisciplinarity to be a part of the praxis/theory of cultivating such synthetic solidarities that confound the structures of capital-space-time. As such, I (gender)fuck with genre, and format throughout, interweaving theoretical and autotheoretical writing with prose, poetics, and altered text to create a visceral sense of disruption of spatiotemporality in not only content, but the affective experience of reading the piece itself. This dissertation thus moves across disciplines via a theoretical constellation of critical scholarship including affect theory, queer theory, (neo)Marxist theory, Black feminist theory, post- and de-colonial theory, disability theory, and transnational feminism.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought

Department dc:contributor.department

Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Tepper, Madison Jeanette

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Caraccioli, Mauro J.
• Labuski, Christine

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Baldwin, Andrea N.
• Commer, Carolyn
• Britt, Brian M.

• Global capitalism
• transnational
• resistance
• solidarity
• embodiment
• queer theory
• affect theory
• autotheory
• disability theory
• marxism
• neomarxism
• postcolonial
• decolonial
• Black feminism
• transnational feminism
• emulsion
• synthesis
• performance

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:39441

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/118072