theme four
"All Tea, No Shade": Black Queer Rhetorics for a New Language of Humanness
Though many argue that queerness has more visibility in the 21st century, that visibility is still nested in a framework where queer mostly means white. On top of that, visibility does not mean or offer real recognition and valuing. Black queer rhetorics do not let you get away with forgetting either of these two points and reminds you that any social category of normativity rests on the backs of Black queerness in all of its manifestations.
The idea that someone could be disabled, Black, feminist, femme, immigrant, working class, and queer, all at once, is a metaphysical reality that few scholars, even those centered in women’s and gender studies, still can’t fully grasp. In most places, including--- and especially including universities--- we don’t even have a good enough language to imagine the alternative humanness that Black queer lives offer. Black queer rhetorics give us a new language for moving beyond the social realities imposed upon us. While it should be obvious that popular culture revolves around Black queer language (shade, tea, beat face, fish, stud… the list is endless), Black queer rhetorics ask us to notice the ways that a unique Black queer discourse gives language to new ways of experiencing bodies and being.
The idea that someone could be disabled, Black, feminist, femme, immigrant, working class, and queer, all at once, is a metaphysical reality that few scholars, even those centered in women’s and gender studies, still can’t fully grasp. In most places, including--- and especially including universities--- we don’t even have a good enough language to imagine the alternative humanness that Black queer lives offer. Black queer rhetorics give us a new language for moving beyond the social realities imposed upon us. While it should be obvious that popular culture revolves around Black queer language (shade, tea, beat face, fish, stud… the list is endless), Black queer rhetorics ask us to notice the ways that a unique Black queer discourse gives language to new ways of experiencing bodies and being.
The Components of Theme 4
