The Ethics of Queer Intersubjectivity
Abstract
In Nikki Giovanni’s poem “We Marched,” she writes, “The Suffragettes did not want us/ Offering only the back of the March/ Our other did not understand us so we went/ Our separate ways/...We are great/ Our Sisterhood remains Strong and Committed” (pp. 64-65). The poet evokes the separation of womanhood on the color line—the white Suffragettes did not want the Black women. The legacy of Black womanhood is one of rejection by other women because of their skin color, by Black men because they are women. Her use of “We” in the poem constructs a community of subjective experience, one which rests on the collective lived experiences of embodying gendered, Black identities. Shared understandings of their race, class, and gender, among other subjective identities, connect each individual subject. Thus, we could say that Giovanni speaks of the intersubjectivity of racialized, gendered bodies in the world. How can we understand the idea of intersubjectivity in this context? I believe that to understand how intersubjectivity functions in the Othered body, we can turn toward the notion of a queer intersubjectivity central to work in recent queer studies, and in queer phenomenology specifically. A queer understanding and exploration of intersubjectivity can be a way to interrogate and “queer” our interpretations of lived realities which veer from the “straight path.” These new queer intersubjective realities can help open a world of meaning beyond the surface and set a new path to rethink the structures of our schools, communities, and worlds.
Presentation Description
Unavailable
Location
Stream A
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Weeks, Thomas, "The Ethics of Queer Intersubjectivity" (2021). Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative. 13.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cssc/2021/2021/13
The Ethics of Queer Intersubjectivity
Stream A
In Nikki Giovanni’s poem “We Marched,” she writes, “The Suffragettes did not want us/ Offering only the back of the March/ Our other did not understand us so we went/ Our separate ways/...We are great/ Our Sisterhood remains Strong and Committed” (pp. 64-65). The poet evokes the separation of womanhood on the color line—the white Suffragettes did not want the Black women. The legacy of Black womanhood is one of rejection by other women because of their skin color, by Black men because they are women. Her use of “We” in the poem constructs a community of subjective experience, one which rests on the collective lived experiences of embodying gendered, Black identities. Shared understandings of their race, class, and gender, among other subjective identities, connect each individual subject. Thus, we could say that Giovanni speaks of the intersubjectivity of racialized, gendered bodies in the world. How can we understand the idea of intersubjectivity in this context? I believe that to understand how intersubjectivity functions in the Othered body, we can turn toward the notion of a queer intersubjectivity central to work in recent queer studies, and in queer phenomenology specifically. A queer understanding and exploration of intersubjectivity can be a way to interrogate and “queer” our interpretations of lived realities which veer from the “straight path.” These new queer intersubjective realities can help open a world of meaning beyond the surface and set a new path to rethink the structures of our schools, communities, and worlds.
