22 Queering Our Writing
Sunayani Bhattacharya
Learning Objectives
By the end of the chapter, you will be able to
- Understand and express in writing the concept of queering a text
- Analyze how a text subverts writing conventions
How to Queer a Text
The idea of queering a text comes from LGBTQ+ studies in which queering is the challenging of cisgendered or heteronormative sexuality as the universal standard of gendered or sexual existence. In this chapter, we expand the notion of queering to include the politics of language. Our first task, then, is to understand that, in the US, Standard American English (SAE) is presented as the linguistic norm with every other form of language seen as a deviation from this hierarchized center. That is to say, as people living and working in the US, we have the greatest ease of access to ideas and institutions when we use SAE. This is particularly true in higher education, and the act of literacy (reading and writing), where expressions in SAE get the most attention, recognition, and reward, while other forms of linguistic expression are seen as remedial at worst, and needing translation at best. Yet, as we know from the chapter on Code Meshing, most of us use variations of languages which do not fit the standards established by SAE, and individuals of color are most often marginalized because they are seen as being the farthest from SAE. Therefore, our second task is to queer or subvert texts by locating and introducing in them non-standard forms of English.
In order to do this, we might take a text written in SAE, and rewrite using English inflected with other languages. Or we might compose a formal essay in non-standard English while still using the citational and argumentative conventions of SAE. Or we might subvert standards of citation and argumentation to express content differently. The goal is to remember why we write academic pieces—to convey an idea or a claim with enough depth such that the reader understands what we are trying to express, and to credit individuals and institutions for their ideas which we might be drawing on or referring to.
Queering a Text 1
Queering as a Rhetorical Tool
Queering or subverting a text is a powerful tool as it can challenge—and sometimes dismantle—established writing conventions. In choosing a piece that you wish to queer, think carefully about your own assumptions about how writers and speakers use language. What are some ways in which you use language that are a marker of your culture? Think also about who your audience is, and how you wish to convince them of the claim or idea that you are presenting in the piece you have chosen to revise. As you revise the text, consider the following questions. You might need additional research to answer some of them.
- Are you familiar with the writing conventions specific to the discipline your piece belongs to? In other words, how well do you know the rules that you wish to challenge?
- As you queer your text, do you wish to address the original audience, or will the intended audience be different?
- Do you know what the linguistic expectations of this new audience (if you are choosing a new audience) are?
- What is your goal in writing this piece? In other words, what are you trying to convey through words?
- Can that goal be achieved by reworking the text’s linguistic conventions? What changes do you need to make to achieve that goal?
Queering a Text 2
Works Cited
Cody Chun, Kieran O’Neil, Kylie Young, Julie Nelson Christoph. Sound Writing, University of Puget Sound.
