Upload
johnboals
View
226
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
1/43
Occupy as Method: The Queer (political and
epistemological) Potential of Occupy Wall Street
Laura SjobergChristian ChessmanUniversity of Florida
Draft for Presentation at the 2!" #nnual Meeting of the
#merican Political Science #ssociation$ %hicago$ &' Please do
not cite ithout permission * comments are elcome to
s+o,erg-u.edu
Disclaimer ,y Way of &ntroductionTo call the Occupy movement ueer is both itself a politically
controversial statement and the basis for the argument in this paper! "t
is #ell$%no#n that ueer issues #ere not singled out in the Occupy
movement& #here no 'ride (ags or pin% triangles could be seen
)*olcher +,--.! /hile some in the ueer community suggested that
this #as a positive sign of a broad and inclusive movement )e!g!
0immerman +,--.& others reacted negatively& suggesting that O/S
spaces prioriti1ed the #ants& needs& values& and culture of
heterose2ual #hite men 3rst and characteri1ed it as another e2ample
of a straight$#hite$man approach to movement$building
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
2/43
)4isOccupy!com +,-+.! /hile some )e!g!& 5ichael /arner6s 7+,-+8
discussion of the death of ueer theory. have recogni1ed resonance
bet#een Occupy /all Street and ueer theory& many more people have
characteri1ed the occupy movement as forgetting 9 and sometimes
resisting 9 to include people #ho are the most oppressed in the
process )5erone% +,--.! :udith Levine framed the Occupy movement
as do#nright unfriendly to #omen and ueers;*ut it turns out life #asn6t so blissful for some residents of
the concrete 'eaceable ssembly! The lengthy and e2haustively debated
4eclaration of the Occupation of ?e# @or% city managed to
include only one grievance dealing #ith se2 and gender;
They have perpetuated ineuality in the #or%place based
on age& the color of one6s s%in& se2& gender identity& and
se2ual orientation! Childcare #as infreuent& or so casual
as to be ha1ardous! /omen and ueers #ere being
harassed and assaulted under the blue$tarp cover of night!
Aven Occupy6s main form of political action 9 nonviolent
civil disobedience& #hich means& basically& submitting to
police brutality and spending countless hours in jail 9
favors young #hite men; They are sturdy& childless& and
unli%ely to receive the harsh treatment their counterparts
of color #ould receive! )Levine +,-+.
-
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
3/43
/e #ere neither at Occupy /all Street nor directly aBliated #ith the
Occupy movement 9 #e read& and #rite& it as outside observers 9
consumers of its politics& its signi3cations& and its implications! /e do
not ma%e an attempt to e2plore& understand& disaggregate& or
streamline the many reasons many people participatedparticipate in
the Occupy movement& or the many diDerent #ays in #hich many
diDerent Occupiers intervene in and engage #ith contemporary
political orders! This decision is partly strategic )the properties of the
Occupy movement that #e are interested in do not rely on a neat or
coherent narrative of O/S. and partly substantive )as Sidney Tarro#
)+,--. e2plains& as%ing its activists #hat they #ant& as some pundits
have demanded& is beside the point.!-Second& #e do not speculate to
the Esuccess6 or Efailure6 of the EOccupy6 movement either as a social
movement generally or in service of particular goals!+Further& #e #ant
to ma%e it clear that #e are not ma%ing the argument that O/S #as
good for queer people or for queer rights& or even that it #as not
complicit in ma%ing heterose2ism and cisse2ism normali1ed even in
the radical community! /hile #e have heard positive and negative
accounts of #hat happened to ueer people in O/S& as #ell as positive
and negative accounts of the O/S record on ueer issues& #e are not
loo%ing to sort those uestions out! "nstead& #e see #hat 5ichael
/arner )+,-+. sa#& resonance! /arner describes;>lmost +, years later& the resonance #ith the Occupy /all
Street movement is unmista%able! Li%e Occupy /all Street&
+
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
4/43
ueer theory #or%ed by magneti1ing attention& at the right
moment& to problems that e2isted before it& and #hich it
could not 32! Li%e O/S& it maintained a s%eptical distance
from legitimate political processes in order to cast light on
their distortions! Li%e O/S& its moment in the spotlight #as
only a strobeli%e illumination of a lingering state of aDairs
)/arner +,-+.!/e see these resonances& and #ant to e2plore them! Therefore& rather
than e2amining occupy as queer politics& #e are loo%ing at occupying
space as queering& and therefore to the ueer )epistemological and
political. potential of the practice of occupation as revealed by the
O/S movement! "t is in that vein that #e classify O/S as a ueer)ing.
movement!/eading Occupy:udith *utler& in Precarious Life& made the argument that& in neoliberal
capitalist imperium&G
dissent is uelled& in part& through threatening
the spea%ing subject #ith uninhabitable identi3cation& )+,,H& p!2i2.
given that a dissenter must choose silence over being labeled
treasonous or communist or some other label that has an unbrea%able
identi3cation #ith evil in contemporary /estern political performance!
This catch$++& *utler argues& limits not only #hat #e can hear& #hat #e
can see& and #hat #e can mourn& but also ho# #e live& #hich she
frames )in Levinas6 )+,,I 7-JK+8. terms. as the surplus of every
sociality over every solitude! *utler )+,,H. argues that it is the over$
infusement and policing of meaning& #hich serves not only the
G
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
5/43
performative function of constituting human e2perience as such but
also the regulatory function of rendering uninhabitable political space
)deemed. unacceptable! The uninhabitability that *utler sees as
inscribing constant precarity onto body and lived e2perience initially
seems an unsolvable pu11le 9 given the common assumption that the
uninhabitable cannot be inhabited! Until it #as!e$imaginging Mannah >rendt6s )-JJN7-JIN8. concept of a
space of appearance& *utler )+,--a. reacted to Occupy /all Street
)O/S. as the )literal. inhabitation of the uninhabitable& characteri1ing
it as a performative social ontology of euality separable from other
revolutionary attempts by its very ability to embody the by$de3nition$
disembodied uninhabitable space of protest! "n a speech in enice&
*utler )+,--a. tal%ed about O/S as a )gendered. embodied social
ontology that at once presumes precarity and interrupts its numbing
hold! "n this sense& as ?i%%i Sullivan )+,,G& v. describes ueer theory&
O/S refuses to be disciplined and continues to struggle against the
straightjac%eting eDects of institutionali1ation& to resist closure and
remain in the process of ambiguous )un.becoming as protest!
"magining an e2tension of *utler6s initial& hopeful reaction to O/S& our
current project accounts for the biopolitical uncontrollability of the
movement as a transgression diDerent in %ind and scope from
traditional protest movements in a #ay that sho#s )epistemological
and political. promise for ueer theori1ing! Thin%ing of ueerness as a
verb )a set of actions. )to ueer.& it is to ui1 or ridicule& to spoil&
P
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
6/43
to put out of order& a deconstructive practice that is not underta%en
by an already constituted subject& and does not& in turn& furnish the
subject #ith a nameable identity )Sullivan +,,G& I,$I+.!
elying collected on discourse and dispositive data from Occupy
5ovements in across the globe& #e frame the occupy movement as
constituted by embodied inde3niteness& interrupting the assured
embodiment on #hich neoliberal imperium stabili1es its domination!
This performative counter$culture then not only clashes #ith the
substance of neoliberal imperium but also brings into uestion its
structure and modes of sustainability& presenting a biopolitical
challenge to its continued e2istence!This framing of the Occupy movement& #e argue& not only tells
us something about the politics and process of the movement& but
suggests that the contribution of O/S both to critical theori1ing of
politics and to revolutionary political action is at least largely
methodological 9 in the movement6s )intentional or unintentional.
transformation of embodied present from a tool of biopo#er control of
the sovereign to a tool of rejection of sovereignty& and #ith it& the
appropriation of an embodied space of appearance for radical&
empathetic& transformative politics previously structurally e2cluded by
the rules of habitation in Ampire! This paper engages occupation as a
method of %no#ledge production and e2change& and e2plores
uestions of creation& stability& Etransfer&6 and signi3cation of
%no#ledge)s. through those lenses! "t begins by using Eoccupation6 as
I
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
7/43
a lens to understand )disciplinary and political. %no#ledge production
strategy and %no#ledge consumption possibility& and continues by
e2ploring the implications for the %no#erlearner distinction in 7ueer8
" theorypractice! "n so doing& it ma%es the argument that the logic of
occupation can ma%e a signi3cant contribution to ueer theory6s
eDorts to Ema%e strange& to frustrate& to counteract& to delegitimi1e& to
camp up 9 heteronormative %no#ledges and institutions& and the
subjectivities and socialities that are )in.formed by them and )in.form
them )Sullivan +,,G& vi.! "t concludes #ith some of the implications of
thin%ing about occupation as ueer and ueerness as occupying!Occupy as (Queer) 0m,odied &nde1nitenessThe Occupy movementconversationmethod%no#ledge is to be
framed #ithin its situation in #hat LM5 Ling and >nna >gathangelou
)+,,J. refer to as the neoliberal imperium;>n overarching hegemonic project it encompasses
states& governments& classes& and sets of ideologies that
#or% in tandem to validate each other speci3cally& the
neoliberal imperium re(ects and sustains a set of social
relations of power e2pressed through daily interactions and
the institutions that support them )e!g!& global capitalism&
the neoliberal state and its mar%et& the patriarchal family&
complicit %no#ledge construction in the academy& an
ontology of fear and property! )>gathangelou and Ling
+,,J& +.
H
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
8/43
"n >gathangelou and Ling6s e2planation& the neoliberal imperium
dra#s on and legitimi1es neocolonial strategies of po#er based on
race& gender& se2uality& and class to privilege the fe# at the e2pense of
the many& despite the continuous e2ploitation of the latter to sustain
the former )+,,J& +.! "n this understanding& the stability of the current
social order not only relies on but consistently reproduces ineualities
among people& states& and nations! These ineualities dra# lines
among livable and unlivable e2istences!"n this #orld& the system of needs is the product of the system of
production in a cycle of symbolic e2change )*audrillard -JK,.! eality
is a product& a simulacrum 9 to be produced for and consumed by the
people in self$ful3lling cycle& a dialectical vision of history and
consciousness cycling and recycling at all levels #here it is at once
approaching perfect operationality and approaching its o#n death
)*audrillard -JKH.! "n other #ords& the system of deprivation and
e2clusion on #hich the neoliberal imperium functions #or%s so tightly
as to ma%e its political impacts seem natural and its evils invisible!This system of deprivation and e2clusion ma%es certain lives unlivable
and certain spaces uninhabitable! "f a particular e2istence is de3ned as
impossibly other by the prevailing discourses and practices of
everyday life& then the people #ho live those e2istences are in essence
impossible! This impossibility means that the space other to the
neoliberal imperium )not objecting to it but outside of it. is discursively&
performatively& and physically uninhabitable! The perfect
K
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
9/43
operationality of the neoliberal imperium constitutes performative
erasure of any space potentially outside of it for not only spea%ing& but
for livinge2istingactingfeeling! "n :udith *utler6s )+,--a& -+.
e2planation& the structural control of the neoliberal imperium on daily
life is strong& and& as a result& #e are faced #ith the idea that some
populations are considered disposable! *utler e2plains;
This process 9 usually induced and reproduced by
governmental and economic institutions that acclimati1e
populations over time to insecurity and hopelessness )see
"sa$bell Lorey. 9 is built into the institutions of temporary
labor& of decimated social services& and of the general
attrition of social democracy in favor of entrepreneurial
modalities supported by 3erce ideologies of individual
responsibility and the obligation to ma2ima1e one6s o#n
mar%et value as the ultimate aim in life! )*utler +,--a&
-G.!This process& called precariti1ation& *utler argues& renders certain
space )particularly that in opposition to the perfect operationality of
the neoliberal imperium. uninhabitable multidimensionally 9 in terms of
identities& actions& lives& and physical space! "t ma%es certain living
spaces uninhabitable 9 both literally and 3guratively! This
precariti1ation separates people from livable life& #here restoration and
rehabilitation are only possible by brea%ing #ith the neoliberal status
uo )*utler +,--a& p!-G.!
N
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
10/43
*ut such a brea% #ith the neoliberal status uo initially appears
impossible! This is because& in Mannah >rendt6s )-JJN7-JIN8. terms& a
space of appearance is at once necessary for the sort of democratic
political function that #ould be necessary to perform such a brea% #ith
the status uo and impossible #ithin the perfection of the neoliberal
imperium! >rendt suggests that a polis is only a polis #hen there is
space #here " appear to others as others appear to me )>rendt
-JJN7-JIN8, -JN.! Such a space is not just the location of the polis& but
instead a 7physical space that8 comes into being #herever men are
together in the manner of speech and action )>rendt -JJN7-JIN8&
-JJ.! "n this #ay& to have action 9 to have life 9 to have politics& the
only indispensible material factor in the generation of po#er is the
living together of people )>rendt -JJN7-JIN8, +,-.! The inhabitability
of uninhabitable space& then& is necessary for the creation of political
alternatives!*ut the neoliberal imperium prevents the very creation of this
alternative space! "nstead& it constitutes the operative abstraction of
living together 9 the 3ctionali1ation and alienation of the operative
from the real 9 systematically in such a #ay that the abstraction of the
practice of neoliberal capitalism becomes real )*audrillard -JKH.! "n
this #ay& it serves as a trap that cannot be escaped because there is
no #ay to escape it 9 to have a real politics& there must be spaceQ to
have space& there must be a possibility of a real politicsQ yet neither
e2ist #ithin the neoliberal imperium& to #hich one cannot be other!
J
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
11/43
/hile voices of dissent sporadically arise& they are uic%ly interpolated
because the neoliberal imperium pre3gures both itself and its
)internali1ed. other such that there is no genuine outside to use as a
deconstructive space!One of the major projects of ueer theori1ing has been to 3nd that
elusive and impossible outside! :udith *utler has described the term
ueer as a site of collective contestation that is never fully o#ned&
but al#ays only redeployed& t#isted& and ueered )*utler +,-G.! The
impossibility of ueer deconstruction becomes a pu11le even in that
description 9 it is at once inside and outside& but the t#o are
irreconcilable!Anter Occupy /all Street )O/S.! /e mean enter both in the
sense of intellectual intervention and in the sense of spatial
intervention in the perfect abstraction of the neoliberal imperium! "n
this analysis& #e are interested in the intersection bet#een Occupy as
a movementstatuse2istence and the problem of uninhabitable space
in the neoliberal imperium! "n order to understand this& some brief
e2ploration of the relationship bet#een O/S and political space is
necessary!O/S as a movement started )or at least got noticed. in the
physical occupation of 0uccotti 'ar% in Lo#er 5anhattan& and uic%ly
spread to the physical occupation of a number of par%s and other to#n
and city public spaces around the United States )and even around the
#orld.! =reg Almer and >ndy Opel )+,--& N. suggests that O/S6
-,
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
12/43
occupation of public space changes the spaces in #hich protest is
allo#ed! 'reviously;The spatial segregation of spea%ers according to the
content of their messages all too easily bifurcates voices
and perspectives into t#o sides& mirroring the dominant
redblue political culture of the US! !'rotests and
demonstrations become staged events& bland and neutered
substitutions of the passionate by literally separating the
demonstrators from the last object of their demonstration&
the protest 1one becomes a #ay of controlling the content
of the debate #ithout really ac%no#ledging #hat is done!
)Almer and Opel +,--& N.!The allocation of protest space in the United States layers on the
neoliberal imperium to ma%e the space of otherness to it uninhabitable
both as an alternative and as physical space!
O/S discursively interrupts the narrative of the unadulterated
good of the neoliberal imperium by critiuing the lifestyle and
dominance of the -R )van =elder +,--.! /hile that interruption is
important& #e argue that the O/S movement ma%es another& more
important& more fundamental& and more lasting intervention in the
status uo political dialogue! This second interruption 9 the one that is
the focus of this paper 9 is the ma%ing of uninhabitable space
inhabitable! *logger =eoDrey Molscla# describes this in terms of
0i1e%6s subjective destitution;
--
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
13/43
O/S seems to 3t perfectly #ith 0i1e%6s understanding of the
subjective destitution& the act of separating one6s self from
symbolic support& the act of cutting ties to socially de3ned
roles and e2pectations& the act of dying to the symbolic
order& and therefore& in a sense& of dying oneself )Molscla#
+,--."t is this act of separating oneself from symbolic support that :udith
*utler suggests is %ey to the Occupy 5ovement creating )in >rendt6s
terms. a space of appearance #here previously such a space #as not
possible! She e2plains that acting together opens up time and space
outside and against the temporality and established architecture of the
regime )*utler +,--b& G.! >ccording to *utler& for politics to ta%e
place the body must appear #hich necessitates& #ithin the neoliberal
imperium& that there has to be a hegemonic struggle over #hat #e
call the space of appearance )*utler +,--b& G.! Such a hegemonic
struggle could help to move from piecemeal forms of transgressive
resistance against the e2isting order to#ard creating the possibility of
another order altogether ensuring lasting change )Molscla# +,--.!Mo# such an intervention must be had& though& and ho# such a
hegemonic struggle must be #on& is often left oD the theoretical map
in evaluating the Occupy movement! *utler& ho#ever& does some
thin%ing about these uestions& suggesting that it matters to
understanding #hat it means to Occupy that there is inhabitation of
physical space )be it 0uccotti 'ar% or academic buildings in London&
-+
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
14/43
>thens& or *er%eley. involved in occupying& #here the symbolic
meaning of sei1ing these buildings is that these buildings belong to the
public )*utler +,--b.! Sei1ing public buildings as occupation is& in
*utler6s vie#& a path to a diDerent social ontology based on the
presumption that there is a shared condition of precarity that situates
our political lives starts at occupation )*utler +,--b& P.! The result is
the ability to ma%e #hat *utler characteri1es as impossible demands;"f hope is an impossible demand& then #e demand the
impossible! "f the right to shelter& food& and employment
are impossible demands& then #e demand the impossible!
"f it is impossible to demand that those #ho pro3t from the
recession redistribute their #ealth and cease their greed&
then& yes& #e demand the impossible )*utler +,--c.!The feasibility of achieving the content of these impossible
demands is beyond the scope of this analysis 9 #e are interested in the
very fact of their impossibility! The occupation performed by O/S
creates space for the ma%ing of impossible demands transgressive to
the politics of the ordinariness of the neoliberal imperium! "n our vie#&
the true accomplishment of O/S is not to provide hope& shelter& food&
employment& and #ealth redistribution& but to provide the possibility of
demanding those things in the face of the operative abstraction of the
neoliberal imperium 9 the >merican 4ream& hard #or%& and >merican
e2ceptionalism!
This operative abstraction hides its constitutive other 9 the reality
-G
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
15/43
of its impacts on people! The e2istence and honorary position of Ethe
>merican 4ream6 relies on the e2istence and marginali1ation of a
constitutive other #ho does not belong! For each person Esafe6 at
Ehome6 in the neoliberal imperium& then& there are )insider&
constitutive. others from #hom they must be protected& whether or
not an actual threat is posed! >s such& ueer theori1ing has suggested
that inclusiveness itself has been #eaponi1ed to diDerentiate Ehome6
from Eother6 or Ea#ay6 and e2cuse )discursive and material. violence
to#ard that other!"n this #ay& 'uar )+,,H. argues that the inclusive e2pansion of the
neoliberal imperium to involve the ueer other$#ithin remains
e2clusive and violent to#ards its constitutive other)s. even as it
appears gentler! That violence is )at least in part. the violent
reproduction of naturali1ed& bounded identities #hen identities are
liminal and messy #hen not policed! The bounded nature of both
inclusion and e2clusion 9 of inhabitable space 9 e2cludes liminality&
messiness& and outside$ness! The violent reproduction of bounded
identities sho#s stability& hiding liminalityQ sho#s certainty& hiding
doubt& and sho#s stic%iness& hiding mobility! ueer theori1ing of the
liminality involved in unstable se2gender identities sho#s that even
that #hich is presumed to be the most primordial )in se2 identity. is
really liminality hiding under supposed de3nition! Translated to thin%ing
about inhabitability& this theori1ing suggests that even the apparent
ultimate safety of inhabitable space hides liminality and uncertainty&
-P
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
16/43
and perhaps danger under its supposed )empirical and normative.
clarity!Such dangers have been previously recogni1ed in ueer
theori1ing! ueer theori1ing has uestioned either the sovereignty of
the state or the naturalness of the concept of sovereignty! "n Cynthia
/eber6s #ords& sovereignty performs as a referent for statehood
#here the norm of state sovereignty heralds and reinforces )a false
sense of. stable identity and e2istence for states )/eber -JJI& -.! "t is
in this sense that /eber )-JJI& -+G. suggests that the state is a sign
#ithout a referent& given that the Esovereignty6 that serves as the
basis for the state6s stability is self$referential& and therefore cannot be
the referent of the state )/eber -JJI& -+G.! "n this #ay& in
*audrillard6s terms& truth appears as a simulacrum )a truth eDect. but
not as a referent or signi3ed )/eber -JJI& -+I.! The truth eDect of
the concept of sovereignty is to produce the appearance of the stability
of stateidentity in " #ithout any underlying basis for it! "n other #ords
theorists Esolve6 )ho#ever temporarily. the problem of state
sovereignty by proceeding as if the meaning of sovereignty #ere stable
because a solution to this problem seems to be a prereuisite for
getting on #ith the business of international relations& #hich leads to
the treating of sovereignty as an already$settled& uncontested
concept )/eber -JJI& +$G.! This Esettles6 a sovereignty order despite
the possibility)probability. of global politics6 lac% of capacity to be
settled in such an orderly #ay! This is at least in part because states
-I
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
17/43
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
18/43
*ut this 3gurative reterritoriali1ation& *utler argues& can never be
complete& given that the space that it occupies remains constitutive
other to the inhabitable space of the neoliberal imperium! This is #here
#e thin% that pairing the act of occupation in the Occupy movement
and ueer theori1ing about disturbance and reterritoriali1ation might
actually reach the uninhabitable space of other to& rather than
constitutive other to& the neoliberal imperium!This is because the act of occupation in the Occupy movement
provides a counterdiscourse not only because of its opposition to the
neoliberal imperium )#hich has been opposed before. but because of
the methods of its opposition! The neoliberal imperium has been
opposed before not only by protesters& but by many people across the
spectrum of E>merican6 e2periences! Some have critiued it #hile
others )starving& free1ing& and dying. have been living proof of its
failures! Still& opposition to the neoliberal imperium has largely been
coopted as its constitutive other )and therefore inside.& and its failures
have been made invisible by its perfect operationality! That
operationality had not previously been disturbed either by critiue of
or carnage resulting from current political practice!/e argue that this is one of the %ey diDerences bet#een O/S and
other political movements 9 that O/S disturbs the operationality of the
neoliberal imperium! "t disturbs both its narrative basis and its practice
by embodied occupation! That embodied occupation performs a
physical intervention )and therefore a symbolic intervention. in the
-K
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
19/43
star% line bet#een the inhabitable space #ithin )and as constitutive
other to. the neoliberal imperium and the uninhabitable space Eoutside6
of it! This is because O/S occupies three uninhabitable spaces
simultaneously; the space of protest& the space of outside of the
neoliberal imperium& and the space of the liminal and uncertain Eafter6
the dominance of the neoliberal imperium!O/S literally occupies the space of protest& by refusing de3ned and
licensed places to protest the e2isting political order 9 protesting the
)demanded. orderliness of protest that #ould %eep it #ithin the
neoliberal imperium! The physical presence of the Occupy movement
in a space #here it is#asphysically not allowed to be actually
occupiesthe space of objection to the ordering of bodies demanded
by the neoliberal imperium& disrupting the embodied order of
contemporary politics! The resultant disruption of the neoliberal
imperium is as important as the method by #hich that disruption
occurs! >s #e have outlined above& disruptions of the imperium that
lac% spaces of appearance are only able to resist from #ithin the
coordinates that the imperium has pre3gured& and therefore lac%
emancipatory potential! This potential is hamstrung in part #hen the
disruption of oppressive biopolitical formations are co$optedQ instead of
eliminating the old oppressive formation& it simply adapts to
accommodate the tactic and forms a ne#& similarly oppressive
formation! Occupying the space of protest& then& creates a space for
-N
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
20/43
emancipatory potential that #as previously unavailable under the
operative abstraction of the neoliberal imperium!
*oth by disturbing the order of )physical and political. protest
space and by doing so to reject the principles and results of the
neoliberal imperium& O/S also occupies the uninhabitable space of
Eother6 to the neoliberal imperium! ather than restricting itself to the
acceptable protest methods and spaces that #ould contain it as the
)internal. constitutive other to the neoliberal imperium& O/S positions
itself outside of the acceptability of both protest to and failure #ithin
the neoliberal imperium! "t does so by pointing out the #ays in #hich
the neoliberal imperium is not only unable to %eep its promises
)>gathangelou and Ling +,,J. but has& despite its operative
abstractions& failed to contain the bodies of its protestors and failures!
Thephysical presence of bodies in 0uccotti 'ar% )and else#here
around the country and the #orld. is an embodied and symbolic
counternarrative to the neoliberal imperium& only possible by the
inhabitation of uninhabitable space! >s 0i1e% said at 0uccotti 'ar%& #e
are not destroying anything& #e are only #itnessing ho# the system is
destroying itself )0i1e% +,--.!
"n this sense& the materiality of the form of #itness is %ey; the
#itness is an embodied& physical presence that manifests inside but
must be outside of the neoliberal imperium! "n this space of
appearance& this physical manifestation of bodies in the face of the
-J
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
21/43
neoliberal imperium6s closure of the space for such manifestation
creates an outside the neoliberal imperium in a #ay that disrupts the
dominance of the neoliberal narrative& and suggests the ability to
uestion the perfection of its operationality )and therefore its feasibility
at all.!
This leads to the third #ay that O/S inhabits uninhabitable space 9
by being in the space of the liminal and uncertain after the neoliberal
imperium! One of the central properties of the neoliberal imperium&
according to >gathangelou and Ling& is the certainty #ith #hich its
parts are de3ned and its results are ordered 9 stably as Auropean&
Christian& #hite& capitalist& heterose2ual& and patriarchal! O/S& as& in
Tarro#6s )+,--. terms& a diDerent type of movement& occupies the
neoliberal imperium #ith something that is ambiguous )and perhaps
even ueer. on issues of race& class& national origin& se2& se2uality& and
economics! ather than constructing a de3ned opposite or a clear
political space& the practice of O/S suggests that the alternative to the
ordered& inescapable& perfectly operational neoliberal imperium is the
liminal& the messy& and the unordered 9 outside on principal but
refusing to rebuild or reconstruct an )eually oppressive. alternative
order! "nstead& it blurs the categorical boundaries bet#een inside and
outside& capitalist and non$capitalist& and produces liminality as a
counterculture to the straightjac%et of liberal capitalism! This produces
and performs uncertainty both of the occupier and the occupied&
+,
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
22/43
and rejects the assumption that clarity can be )re.produced by labeling
a person as #ithin a previously de3ned set of characteristics! >s
Christine Sylvester once noted& liminality suggests borderlands that
defy 32ed homeplaces in feminist epistemology& places of mobility
around policed boundaries& places #here one6s bag disappears and
reappears before moving on )Sylvester +,,+& +II.! Occupy blurs the
lines bet#een Ehomed6 and Ehomeless6 both in practice )#here the
homed re$homed #ith the homeless for solidarity.& eDectively
uestioning and deconstructing the )apparently stable. neoliberal
imperium& provide a reminder that home might be as dangerous as
the liminal& and that there might )as bell hoo%s )-JJ,. suggests
about marginality. be empo#erment in embracing liminality!The stability of the neoliberal imperium is desirable& but ultimately
violent! "t is desirable because settled$ness is )in *audrillard6s terms.
seductive )regardless of& and perhaps especially in the absence of&
capacity to be settled.! "t is ultimately violent because those #ho are
Eunsettable6 but settled any#ay into a binary into #hich they do not 3t
are Esettled6 and limited into something they are not by force of
conformity& a violence that repeats itself constantly in the daily lived
e2perience of )inappropriate. settlement! "t is in the Eunsettling6 of that
violent settlement #here O/S 3nds its residence in the uninhabitable
space of the liminal Eafter6 the neoliberal imperium!"n this #ay& the strategy of occupation meets the logic of ueer
theori1ing6s desire to deterritoriali1e and reterritoriali1e! /e argue that
+-
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
23/43
this reali1ation has substantive impacts about for the politics and
theori1ing of sovereignty& practical impacts for methodology in the
study of sovereigntysecurity"& and prescriptive value for oppositional
politics!Occupy$ Territory$ and Soereignty
The impact of the inhabiting of these three uninhabitable spaces is
comple2 and multidimensional! /hile #e dra# from a number of the
implications& #e focus on one; the transformation of embodiment from
a tool bipo#er of control of the sovereign to a tool of rejection of
sovereignty! "n the bipo#er order of the neoliberal imperium&
individuals rely on the government for social goods #hich are used to
indoctrinate or interpellate them and produce them as proper subjects
of the sovereign! This biopo#er is aimed at disciplining populations into
self$policing& to follo# the #ill of the sovereign as a self$enforced edict!
The sovereigns e2ercise of po#er functions by naturali1ation through
institutions and environments that acclimati1e individuals to behaving
in a certain #ayQ speci3cally in a #ay #hich is subordinate to the #ill of
the sovereign!The self$policing function is#as %ey to the perfect operability of the
neoliberal imperium& given that bodies )across levels of precarity. #ere
ordered into particular and speci3ed places #ithin its modalities of
po#er! *iopo#er #asis a tool of the sovereign to maintain and enforce
sovereignty and therefore the e2isting political order! The physical act
of occupying& ho#ever& suggests a possibility of 3nding an outside to
the rule of biopo#er! ather than being )self.$policed& occupying bodies
++
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
24/43
are being un$police$able! Those #ho occupy are using bodies as a
tool of the rejection of the sovereign and the )unjust. political order it
impliessupportsrei3esma%es possible! >s outlined above& the
disruption of the neoliberal imperium happens #hen an individual uses
their body to performatively constitute other#ise unspea%able spaces
and manifest unspea%able identities! Uniue to this tactic is the
inability to accumulate po#er& because po#er derives from the
physical space ta%en by each individuals body and the concomitant
performance that body enacts! Aach bodys performative eDect is
eual& because the eDect derives not from some characteristic of the
body& but from its e2istence and occupation of space! /hether or not&
then& Occupy is a counterculture or protest movement on its o#n
merits& an Occupying body moves from a tool of the neoliberal
imperium6s biopo#er to a tool of transgression against it! This could be
useful literally )as a tool of e2panding critiue of the neoliberal
imperium. and as translated to other areas of protest& critiue& and
unsettling& as discussed belo#!Occupy as 3Queer4 Method for the Study of
Soereignty5Security5&/"n this section& #e are interested in the #ays in #hich the
Occupy movement has altered both the method of and the situation
of protest in order to provide insight into the methodology of
protestpolitical scholarship in "& particularly in ueer scholarship& but
also more broadly! /hat implication does the no#$inhabitability of
+G
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
25/43
uninhabitable space have for ho# #e do research critiuing e2clusion
/e believe that these uestions lin%ing the theory and performance of
O/S and " methods have been neglected in the 3eld& and are loo%ing
to pursue them!/hile a group called Occupy"Theory has e2plored some of
these uestions in blog posts& meetings& and #ritings in journals of the
3eld&Pmuch of that #or% has focused on directly relating to the
Occupy movement 9 in the terms spelled out on the blog 9 #hat #e
e2pect from the Occupy movement and #hat the Occupy
movement can e2pect from us as " theorists! Some e2ceptions&
though& e2ist& and are #orth mentioning beforeduring our discussion
of #hat #e derive from O/S as method for " theori1ing! The 3rst
thoughts are 'atric% Thaddeus :ac%son6s& in Three Thoughts about
/hat EVoccupyirtheory6 5ight 5ean! :ac%son )+,-+& -,K. suggests
that to occupy in the Vo#s sense means something li%e assembling
constitutively& and thus calling attention to the contingency of
#hatever is being occupied! :ac%son e2plains that the O/S
commitment to economic justice demands that " theory be
evaluated according to the eDect it has on people6s lives& and perhaps
especially according to the values it enshrines and advances ):ac%son
+,-+& -,N.! >ida Mo1ic )+,-+& -PJ. adds to this the suggestion that
the very attempt at doing apolitical " scholarship is rendered
ineDective by considering the concerns of the Occupy movement&
such that if there is a message in the Voccupy movement for " and
+P
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
26/43
"'A scholars in the United States& it is the #arning that the last t#o
decades of academic political abstinence are no longer sustainable!
There is no #ay around it! Citing >le2 *arder and 4aniel Levine6s
)+,-+. suggestion that " has been co$opted by liberal triumphalism
of the post$Cold /ar era and therefore failed to raise its voce loudly
and clearly& Mo1ic suggests that one of the ta%e$a#ays from the
Occupy movement is the need to revive a politics of critiue in "!/e ta%e these lessons as important for thepolitics of " theory 9
understanding contingency in global politics& judging theory based on
its impact on people& and restoring a critical politics to " theory! Our
interest is in building on those lessons to understand the potential
contributions of the political practices of O/S for the politics and
research methods of the 3eld of "! For those purposes& building on the
discussion of the relationship bet#een O/S and the neoliberal
imperium above& #e derive some characteristics of #hat it means to
occupy! Occupying is physically inhabiting that #hich is occupied& as
an embodied disruption of the social order #hich ma%es that
inhabitation impossible! Occupying is inhabiting uninhabitable space 9
space of protest& space of otherness& and space of liminality! Occupying
is turning a body from a tool for the policing of sovereignty and the
maintenance of the centrality of po#er to a tool for resistance of
sovereignty and the disruption of the category of po#er! Occupying is
residing in but remaining outside of the possible in political space&
+I
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
27/43
e2posing (a#s in the operability of an other#ise perfectly operable
imperium!So #hat #ould it loo% li%e to occupy the imperium of "
theori1ing "t is perhaps 3rst important to understand ho# and #hy
one #ould thin% of " theori1ing as an imperium to begin #ith! Though
there are many #ays to approach understanding " theori1ing as an
imperium& #e approach it through feminist lenses! /e argue that
)>merican& mainstream. " can be understood as an imperium that by
its constitution e2cludes feminist #or%!
This " is a #orld that polices its boundaries& #hatever they are!
Aach debate e2cludes its other as much as it constructs a con(ict
bet#een its in$cro#d! *ut since by de3nition everyone is in the
debate& even its detractors are constitutive others! There is no
outside the debates inside " 9 that is "6s uninhabitable space!
This tension is present& for e2ample& in feminist debates about
engaging #ith " )Tic%ner -JJK.! Feminist " discusses the a#%#ard
silences and miscommunications in relating #ith "& yet cannot ever
be completely outside of the a#%#ard other it relates to )in. )Tic%ner
-JJK& H-+.! The function of the part$inclusion )e!g!&
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
28/43
inability to escape the discipline or these dysfunctional relationships
entirely )e!g!& 0ale#s%i6s 7+,,K8 lament.! This trap of being never$
inside and never$outside is mismatched #ith feminist scholars6 claim
that the nature of their #or% #as discipline$transformative )e!g!&
Tic%ner -JJN& +,JQ 0ale#s%i +,,G& +J-.! >s a result& there6s an
underlying tension in feminist " #or%& #here it cannot e2ist in the
space allocated to it& but it cannot escape that space either 9 its
protest is corralled into inhabitable space #hen it be functional if and
only if it 3nds a #ay to inhabit uninhabitable space! "n other #ords )li%e
much critical theori1ing #ith a political protest against the Ebusiness as
usual6 ontologically& epistemologically& andor methodologically.& the
parado2 of feminist theory as critical theory is that the imperium of the
discipline traps& orders& and tames its critiue!Some feminist theorists )e!g!& 0ale#s%i +,,G. have suggested
that the ans#er to this parado2 is in seeing feminist theori1ing as
fundamentally undecidable 9 an approach embraced by ueer theorists
in a number of diDerent conte2ts! >t the same time& as 0ale#s%i
suggests and ueer theorists con3rm 9 it is that interruption&
instability& and undecidability that renders the uninhabitable space
that those approaches could inhabit so dangerous& and incentivi1es
"6s taming behavior! Seeing " as this sort of imperium vis a vis critical
theori1ing brings up the uestion of #hat it #ould loo% li%e to occupy
"! /hat #ould it loo% li%e to physically inhabit the discipline of " To
be an embodied disruption of the social order #hich ma%es inhabitation
+K
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
29/43
impossible To occupy a space of protest > space of otherness >
space of liminality /hat #ould it loo% to reside in but remain outside
of the possible political space of " To use embodied po#er to resist
the orthoro2y and operationality of "Certainly& the uestion of the relationship bet#een critical " and
mainstream " has been e2plored in the discipline in a number of #ays
)e!g!& Sjoberg +,,J.! *ut the uestion of the materiality of occupation&
#e argue& might be a good #ay to thin% about critical interventions in
"! Several #ays of thin%ing about this might bear fruit! The 3rst is the
physical inhabitation of the discipline of "! This is more complicated
than it 3rst appears& given that the discipline of " is a political
economy& #here if one is able to be sustainably present& it is because
one is in some sense included by#ith the discipline as a paid member
of a faculty& allo#ing one the time and resources to both eat and #rite!
>t the same time& the intersection of that political economy of being a
faculty member and the political economy of %no#ledge production is
not 1ero$sum& #here to%enist inclusion in the political economy of
being a faculty member can actually signify the creation of a
constitutive other in the political economy of %no#ledge production!"t is #hen it reaches this point that #e argue that critical " might
usefully bene3t from thin%ing about and acting on occupying the
discipline of "& and #ield ueer theori1ing as a tool to analy1e the
productivity of such a move! So far& such a strategy has not )e2plicitly
or implicitly. been a part of ho# critical theorists have dealt #ith "&
+N
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
30/43
outside of a fe# individual acts of civil disobedience! /hile some loo%
to stand outside of " )*ro#n -JNN. or actively reconstruct " #ithout
reference to the mainstream of the discipline )Suires and /eldes
+,,K.& still others engage the discipline )Tic%ner -JJ+.! These
strategies& though& might be enhanced by applying some of the uniue
methods of occupation #hen #e thin% about ho# to interact #ith the
discipline! For critical "& physically inhabiting the discipline of " might
be accomplished by going to the spaces that " feels safe in its
e2clusion of its critiues 9 conference spaces& panel spaces& journal
spaces& boo% spaces& university spaces 9 and occupying them 9
reading& #riting& tal%ing& interrupting! "t might be accomplished by
establishing a physical presence places #here critical are usually not
#elcome 9 in3ltrating social space to in3ltrate intellectual space&
coming uninvited& as%ing feminist uestions of non$feminist #or%& and
the li%e! "n "& such occupation seems to accord #ith ueer theorists6
desire to to ui1 or ridicule& to spoil& to put out of order& performing a
deconstructive practice that is not underta%en by an already
constituted subject& and does not& in turn& furnish the subject #ith a
nameable identity )Sullivan +,,G& I,$I+.!"n this #ay& an embodied disruption of the social order may be
that sort of physical presence in un#elcome spaces or disruption of
e2isting physical space 9 #hether by spea%ing& attire& physical location&
or engagement in#ithat the international relations imperium! "t might
be something as simple as #earing Emarriage euality6 or Ethis is #hat
+J
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
31/43
a feminist loo%s li%e6 tshirts in the place of business suits at
conferences& or something as complicated as a large$scale 7insert$
critical$group$here8 presence intervening in a conference panel that
ignores or suppresses critiue! Ambodied disruptions can be in physical
presence itself or in the #ays in #hich physical presences react to&
narrative& involve& or implicate a particular critiue of the #ay that "
#or%s!Occupying a space of protest& in Occupy movement terms& is to
refuse to %eep protest con3ned to the allo#ed spaces )in feminisms6
case& for e2ample& feminist journals& feminist theory and gender
studies panels& allocated chapter space in te2tboo%s and syllabi. and
instead to engage in interventionary protests in uninhabitable spaces!
Spaces of protest can be as straightfor#ard as alternative te2tboo%s
)e!g!& Shepherd +,,J. and as side#ays as presenting a paper diDerent
than that announced in an impermissible space for critical research!
Occupying a space of otherness reuires transcending the con3ned
space of "6s constitutive other )inclusiveness that allo#s and produces
e2clusiveness.& to act simultaneouslyphysically present in but
conceptually outside of& against& and contrary to the orthodo2y and
perfect operationality of "!
Occupying a space of liminality for 7ueer8 critical " might mean
embracing both intellectual instability )there is not one critical position
but many. and disciplinary instability )critical " is not homed in ".! "n
this conte2t& liminality means embracing uncertainty and change& in
G,
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
32/43
the #orld& in the discipline& and in the research of the discipline! "t is
not marginality or mainstream& engagement or ignoring& occupying or
complicity 9 it is both sides of each of those dichotomies at once! The
occupation of liminal space is embracing the by nature unstable
identity and practice of 7al#ays already ueer8 critical "!/ould an occupied " loo% any diDerent than a non$occupied "
'erhaps& perhaps not! /ould the intellectual relationship bet#een
critical " and mainstream " loo% diDerent for the occupation >lmost
certainly! /ould such an occupation be a substantive ueering of the
discipline /e argue yes! For our purposes no#& it is the intellectual
relationship that #e are interested in 9 the idea that a 7ueer8 critical
occupation of " ma%es "6s uninhabitable space inhabitable 9
fundamentally changing the bordersboundaries of the discipline and
their functioning& in #ays similar to the )intellectual. impacts of ma%ing
the uninhabitable space of the other to the neoliberal imperium
inhabitable fundamentally rippled the tenability of the neoliberal
imperium! This is all the more true given the Occupy understanding
of %no#ledge)its political relations and interactions. as inherently non$
hierarchical& coincident #ith the critical " interest in critically
reevaluatingdeconstructing hierarchies in " %no#ledges!
Occupying /esearch
>ll of that said& limiting the methodology of occupation to
understanding disciplinary politics seems both unnecessarily limiting&
especially given that it #ould follo# the political implications that the
G-
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
33/43
idea of Occupying " has research process implications as #ell! This
section& then& addresses #hat it #ould mean to use Occupy as a
research method for "& particularly in correspondence #ith the
critiues and perscriptions associated #ith ueer theory!
There has been a signi3cant amount of #or% )especially recently.
on critical " methods 9 the breadth and depth of that research could
be a paper itself! For no#& #e are going to use >nn Tic%ner6s
description; a deep concern #ith #hich research uestions get as%ed
and #hyQ a preoccupation #ith uestions of re(e2ivity and the
subjectivity of the researcherQ and the commitment to %no#ledge as
emancipation )+,,I& P.! This sort of scholarship is at once research
and politicsQ considering up front #hat it means to know and ho# #e
construct %no#ledge! This vie# clashes heavily #ith the positivist bent
of Ebusiness as usual6 political science& suggesting that the positivist
notion of objectivity is no more than the subjective %no#ledge of
privileged voices disguised as neutral )Marding -JJNQ
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
34/43
everyone so long as they do so objectively! >s such& critical "
research goals and the Occupy methodology might have common
interests and goals in terms of the politics of %no#ledge production and
%no#ledge consumption! /e particularly 3nd t#o #ays #here #e thin%
the )ueer vie# of. the method of Occupation might dovetail #ith the
#or% of critical "& #hich #e brie(y s%etch here!
The 3rst idea is that researchers occupy the uninhabitable space of
liminality& particularly& the liminality of our research subjects!
ecently& scholars have been thin%ing about #hat it means for the
researcher6s body to be at ris% and e2perience trauma in the research
process& particularly in 3eld research!I/e argue that this could be
pushed further& to#ards thin%ing of occupation ofe2perience of
liminaluninhabitable space inhabited by "6s traditional research
subjects as itself a research method& #here sense and emotion are
the product and producer of research e2periences! Living the liminality
that #e often ignore even #hen #e #rite about the situation is a
research experience 9 a #ay to reside in but outside of the dominant
narrative of historypolitics& a #ay to transgress the boundaries
bet#een research subjectobject and researcher& and a #ay to
understand the fundamental interdependence of the occupier and the
occupied in research terms! The combined uncertainty of the observer
)#hat is that. and uncertainty in the consumption of the observed
)ho# is that e2perienced. of living liminality potentially provides the
GG
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
35/43
ability to inhabit the uninhabitable space of researcher$positioned$as$
researched& brea%ing do#n the researchersubject divide and providing
space for the use of embodied occupation to brea% do#n "6s
)disciplinary and research. sovereignties! This could be leveraged in
support of feminisms6 interests in critical political %no#ledge
production& anti$hierarchical transgression& and the creation of space
for both research and political practice outside of the "neoliberal
imperium)s.!
The second contribution #e argue that Occupy as method could
ma%e to critical " research is in understanding research more
generally as being stable in its liminality rather than anchored by a
static certainty about ontology& epistemology& method& or 3eld politics!
One #ay to thin% about this might be thin%ing about " as art& as
Christine Sylvester suggests;
Surrounded by enchanted positivism& #hich promises
progress in %no#ledge 9 yes& this is the #ayW 9 only a
long learning curve has brought us to the point of X$
raying and carbon$dating the facts presented as
timeless tendencies& as Eobjective6 "! "f #e do not
journey along the learning curve& #e end up trying to
dra# #ithout loo%ing& observing& and rec%oning #ith
life! )Sylvester +,,+& +KG.
GP
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
36/43
Sylvester is arguing that seeing the #orld in a #ay that is linear&
rational& and e2clusively scienti3c neglects a number of concerns #hich
are normatively important& #hich 3nd their substance in the political&
the personal& and the critical! >t the same time& anchoring research in
liminality contradicts the discipline6s anchoring in a positivist social
science based on appro2imating certainty! >s researchers& liminality$
as$research$goal is another uninhabitable space in " 9 one #hich
might be physically inhabited as an embodied disruption of positivist
social science 9 one #hich might be a space of otherness and a space
of protest all at once 9 both providing ne# intellectual turf for " and
disrupting its operationaliity!
Occupying /esearch to Occupy5Queer &//e are interested in a number of #ays that both research practice and
the political landscape of the 3eld might change as a result of the
introduction of the methodological principles for performing research
and navigating the 3eld that #e glean from the ideas and practices of
the EOccupy6 movement! "n our vie#& one of the most useful uestions
such an interpretation can as% is ho# the space of the need to
Edothin% things diDerently6 becomesbecame less
inhabitableuninhabitable space in the discipline of "the practice of
governance& and ho# to inhabit that uninhabitable space&
methodologically for " theory and practically for the #orld of
governance /e thin% of it in terms the perfect operationality )in
*audrillard6s terms. of a simulacrum of E#hat " is6 )or& in your terms
GI
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
37/43
Eho# to govern6. #here the system and its normali1ed Eopposition6 form
a tight narrative of completeness that ma%es Eotherness6 to it
impossible! That narrative completeness relies on bodies being #here
they are Esupposed6 to be )in Foucauldian terms about biopo#er being
an enforcer of sovereignty.& and re$placement of bodies )occupation.
interrupts the narrative completeness of the imperium by
demonstrating the inhabitability of uninhabitable space!/e thin% an Eoccupy6 approach to " method and " politics might
serve a function of disrupting the narrative completeness of "$as$
discipline and "$research$practice that could have t#o transformative
eDects! The 3rst is to render inhabitable the uninhabitable space of
critical theori1ing residing in " though outside its compliant
follo#ingcompliant protest model! The second is to disruptdisconnect
the neat lines bet#een research subject and research object by
residing in the liminal space of the research subject as research! /e
thin% that these t#o performances of occupation are both substantively
signi3cant for the 3eld on their o#n& and acts of the sort of disruption
that ueer theori1ing loo%s to cause! Using O/S methodology as a
model for ueercritical " politics and methodology might further that
causeQ seeing the O/S movementas ueer politics might clarify and
sharpen both its critiue and its methodology! Of course& both ideas
#ill reuire signi3cant further development& and
uestionscommentsrebu%es are #elcome!
GH
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
38/43
6i,liography
>gamben& =iorgio! +,,I! States of Exception Chicago; University ofChicago 'ress!>gathangelou& >nna and LM5 Ling! +,,J! ransforming !orld Politics"
#rom Empire to$ultiple !orlds! ?e# @or% and London; outledge!>rendt& Mannah! -JJN 7-JIN8! he %uman &ondition )+ndAdition.!Chicago; University of
Chicago 'ress!*arder& >le2ander and 4aniel Levine! +,-+! 6The /orld is Too 5uch#ith Us6;
ei3cation and the 4epolitici1ing of 'ia $edia Constructivist "$illennium"
(ournal of )nternational Studies P,)G.;INI$H,P!*audrillard& :ean! -JKH! L*Echange Symbolque et la $ort! 'aris; Aditions
=allimard!*audrillard& :ean! -JK,! Le Societe de &onsummation 'aris; Aditons4enoel!*innie& :! -JJK! Coming Out of =eorgraphy; To#ards a ueerApistemology
Environment and Planning +" Society and Space -I)+.; ++G$+GK!*olgerm :ulie! +,--! /e6re Mere& /e6re ueer& /e are the JJR& hedvocate ,I
October +,--& accessed -P >ugust +,-G athttp;###!adovate!comne#sdaily$ne#s+,---,,H#ere$here$#ere$ueer$#e$are$JJpageYfull!
*ro#ne& gainst 'recarity& idal -; --$-P!*utler& :udith! +,--b! *odies in >lliance and the 'olitics of the Street&-ccupyL
.eader& v!-$G; +$-I!*utler& :udith! +,,H! Precarious Life" he Powers of $ourning and
'iolenceLondon;erso!
*utler& :! +,,P! /ndoing 0ender1 London; outledge!Currah& '! and T! 5ulueen! +,--! Securiti1ing =ender; "dentity&*iometrics& and
Transgender *odies at the >irport! Social .esearch KN)+.; IIK$IN+!
GK
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
39/43
4eLuca& ndy Opel! +,,N! Preempting +issent" he Politics ofan )nevitable
#uture ?e# @or%; >rbeiter ing 'ublishing!Foucault& 5ichel! +,,G7-JKH8! Society $ust 4e +efended" Lectures at
the &ollege de#rance, 56789567:! London; 5ac5illan!
Foucault& 5ichel! +,,J7-JKK8! Security, erritory, Population" Lecturesat the &ollege de
#rance 56779567;1London; 5ac5illan!Anloe& Cynthia! -JJ,! 4ananas, beaches, and bases" making feministsense of
international politics1*er%eley& C>; University of California 'ress!van =elder& Sarah! +,--! his &hanges Everything" -ccupy !all Streetand the 66ugust +,-G athttp;###!bilerico!com+,----sylviaZriveralZprojectZteach$inZatZoccupyZ#all!php!
?ash& C! :! Toronto6s =ay illage )-JHJ$-JN+.; 'lotting the 'olitics of=ay "dentity& he
&anadian 0eographer I,)-.; -$-H!Os#in& ?! +,,N! Critical =eographies and Uses of Se2uality;4econstructing ueer
Space& Progress in %uman 0eography G+)-.; NJ$-,N!
'eterson& ! S! +,-G! The "ntended and Unintended ueering ofStates?ations&
Studies in Ethnicity and 3ationalism -G)-.; IK$HN!'uar& :! +,,H! errorist ssemblages" %omonationalism in ?ueer imes14urham& ?C;
4u%e University 'ress!oberts& >lasdair! +,-+! /hy the Occupy 5ovement Failed! Publicdministrative
GJ
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
41/43
.eview K+)I.; KIP$H+!Scheman& ?aomi! -JJG! Engenderings" constructions of knowledge,authority, and
privilege1 ?e# @or% and London; outledge!Shepherd& Laura& ed! +,,J! 0ender $atters in 0lobal Politics1 London;
outledge!Shepherd& L! :! and L! Sjoberg! +,-+! Trans$ *odies inof /ar)s.;Cisprivilege and
Contemporary Security Strategy& #eminist .eview-,-; I$+G!Sjoberg & L! +,-+! To#ard Trans$gendering "nternational elations)nternational
Political Sociology H)P.; GGK$GIP!Sjoberg& Laura! +,,J! "ntroduction to Security Studies" FeministContributions& Security
Studies -N)+.;-NP$+-P!Suires& :udith and :utta /eldes! +,,K! *eyond *eing 5arginal;
=ender and"nternational elations in *ritain! 4ritish (ournal of Politics and)nternational .elations J;-NI$+,G!
Steans& :ill! +,,G! Angaging from the margins; feminist encounters #iththe mainstream
of "nternational elations! 4ritish (ournal of Politics and)nternational .elations I)G.;P+N$PIP!
Sylvester& Christine! +,,+! #eminist international relations" anun@nished journey!
Cambridge; Cambridge University 'ress!Tarro#& Sidney! +,--! /hy Occupy /all Street is ?ot the Tea 'arty of
the Left& #oreignAairs -, October +,--& accessed
athttp;###!foreignaDairs!comprintJNIPP!Tic%ner& :! >nn! -JJN! Continuing the Conversation! )nternationalStudies ?uarterly
P+;+,I$+-,!Tic%ner& :! >nn! -JJK! @ou :ust 4on6t Understand; TroubledAngagements *et#een
Feminists and " Theorists! )nternational Studies ?uarterly P-&H--$HG+!Tic%ner& :! >nn! -JJ+! 0ender in )nternational .elations" #eminist
Perspectives onchieving )nternational Security1 ?e# @or%; Columbia University
'ress!/arner& 5ichael! +,-+! ueer and Then he &hronicle of %igherEducation - :anuary
+,-+& accessed -P >ugust +,-G athttp;chronicle!comarticleueerThenY-G,-H-!
P,
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/print/98544http://www.foreignaffairs.com/print/985447/25/2019 Occupy Paper
42/43
/eber& C! -JJI! Simulating Sovereignty" )ntervention, the State, andSymbolic Exchange1
Cambridge; Cambridge University 'ress!0ale#s%i& 5arysia! +,,G! /omen6s Troubles >gain in "! )nternationalStudies .eview
I;+J-$+JP!0immerman& Lila! +,--! Occupy /all Street; > 'rotest that 4oes ?ot4iscriminate! 0o
$agaBine J ?ovember +,--& accessed -P >ugust +,-G athttp;###!gomag!comarticlelilaZ1immerman&
0i1e%& Slavoj! +,--! Speech at Occupy /all Street! "n -ccupyL& p!I+$IP!0i1e%& S! +,,+! !elcome to the +esert of the .eal1 London; erso!
P-
7/25/2019 Occupy Paper
43/43
-Tarro#6s )+,--. argument is that Occupy /all Street is a movement of a completelyne# type& #here policy platforms are not the point of this ne# %ind of movement!"nstead& this is a #e are here sort of movement& in Tarro#6s terms& #hich has anuncertain future!
+For a perspective on O/S6 successes& see Todd =itlin )+,-+.& #ho characteri1es themovement as pioneering& intellectual& symbolic& and eDective! For a perspective on O/S6failures& see oberts )+,-+.& #ho suggests that the attempt to #or% through e2isting
political institutions might be counterproductive!G>nna >gathangelou and LM5 Ling6s )+,,J. #ordsPhttp;occupyirtheory!infoISee the forum on Amotion and the Feminist " esearcher in the 4ecember +,--issue of )nternational Studies .eview edited by Christine Sylvester!