Diploma: Queering Bodies

„But what is this queer experience?” [1]

It is queer that a person can suffer like that.[2] Is William queer, too? [3] Well, she IS queer![3] Being out is being queer.[4] Being queer is being there.[4] To shake an ethics out of this strange animal is, at the least, a rather queer undertaking.[5] According to what people say, marriage is a very queer business.[1] Which is of more value than your own friendship with yourself a rather queer conception, but quite valid.[7] I simply cannot describe how queer this feeling is.[8] One of the rallying cries of the groups is to "fuck shit up,' a queer objective that is also reflected in Halberstam's The Queer Art of Failure.[9] But there is nothing astonishing, nothing queer, about what happens.[1] In older uses of queer- queer to describe anything that is noticeable because it is odd- queer and fragility were often companions.[11] That is a queer hat you are wearing.[12] Feeble, frail, invalid, incapacitate, falter, weak, tearful, worn; tear; wear; queer too, queer is there, too.[11]

Open to suspicion, doubtful as to honesty...

There is queerness in things, there is queerness in bodies.

[1] Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations [2] Hugo, Les Miserables [3] Woolf, Night and Day [4] Anzaldua, This Bridge We Call Home [5] Braidotti Hlavajova, Posthuman Glossary [7] Rand, The Fountainhead [8] Jung, Two Essays in Analytical Psychology [9] Bussey Chamberlain, Queer Troublemakers [11] Ahmed, What s the Use [12] Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

Aporia, Greek ἀπορία (aporia), meaning "difficulty" or "perplexity," and it describes a situation in which there is no clear solution or path forward.

It is a term that originates from ancient Greek philosophy and rhetoric. It describes a state of puzzlement, doubt, or impasse where one encounters an unresolvable contradiction or uncertainty. In rhetoric, aporia can be used to express doubt or question a point in a way that invites deeper exploration or reflection.

In philosophy, especially in the works of thinkers like Derrida, aporia often refers to complex problems or paradoxes that don’t have clear answers. It’s used to highlight situations where language, meaning, or logic seems to break down, challenging us to rethink our assumptions.