“I'm a Mountain Biking Vampire Witch from the Future!” Queer Decolonial
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“I’m a Mountain Biking Vampire Witch From the Future!” Queer Decolonial Killjoys in Queer Studies and Politics by Charlotte Theresa Hoelke A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Philosophy in Canadian Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2018, Charlotte Theresa Hoelke Hoelke, 1 Abstract This thesis asks how queer scholarship and politics will maintain a radically queer critical edge, specifically an unsettling, decolonial approach that does not take for granted the continuance of queer liberal and settler colonial structures. A longstanding debate in queer studies and politics is the tension between queer assimilation vs queer radicalism. However, even the radical unsettling approaches that discuss radical queer futurity (Muñoz, and Edelman) often do not centre the important context of settler colonialism, even while critiquing normativity and imagining better futures. So how do we locate examples of imaginings of queer decolonial futures: ones that account for settler colonialism? To find out, I chose to examine selected performances in specific popular “silly archives of unhappy feelings,” and found complex examples of uncanny, at times monstrous, performances by artists (Trixie Mattel, Katya Zamoldchikova and Miss Chief Eagle Testickle). These artists, I argue, exemplify and embody the characteristics of what I call “Queer Decolonial Killjoys” (QDKs). Building on Ahmed’s concepts of “Feminist Killjoys,” and “Unhappy Queers,” I demonstrate that the artists I discuss not only unsettle gendered, sexualized, and racialized norms (à la Ahmed), but that they also act as Decolonial Killjoys because they use complex performative strategies to also critique settler colonialism and queer liberalism. Their performances, I suggest, also gesture to important possibilities of queer and decolonial futures. Finally, I argue that the performances of QDKs can remind queer studies scholars to become more comfortable with being uncomfortable/unsettled, and may help us to learn how to begin imagining radical queer decolonial futures. Hoelke, 2 Acknowledgements First, thank you so much to my committee whose support and mentorship made finishing this degree possible. I feel that I have grown so much under the supervision of Dr. Eva Mackey. Her friendship, mentorship, and brilliant insights and ideas were instrumental to me finishing. Dr. Patrizia Gentile’s support, and immense knowledge of queer theory also made this possible. I am also incredibly thankful for having the opportunity to work with Dr. Kahente Horn Miller, whose scholarship and community-work has inspired me in so many ways. Heartfelt thanks to the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies at Carleton, which has been my home for nearly a decade! I am so grateful to have been able to grow in such an academically rigorous and supportive environment. I’m incredibly grateful to my family. My parents Shayne and Jolanta, and my grandparents never wavered in their support and encouragement of me. Dad—thank you in particular for encouraging my pursuit of higher education. Olivia, you don’t know how much I appreciated your humour and phone calls! Last, but certainly not least: Jeff—I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for your love, patience, and support throughout this project (and for putting up with me bringing home so many stray kittens). Hoelke, 3 Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………2 List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………5 Chapter 1: Introduction: Unsettling Settler and Race Unconsciousness in Queer Studies and Politics………..………………………………………………………………………………9 Queer Theory, (Queer) Settler Unconsciousness, Queer(ed) Futures...……………..17 Affect, Feeling, and Settler Unconsciousness in Queer Studies and Politics……..…31 Methodology: Accessing a Silly and Unhappy Archive of Feelings…………………34 Chapter Summaries…………………………………………………………………….47 Chapter 2: Monstrous White Uncanniness: Unsettling the Settler is a Drag With Trixie Mattel…………………………………………………………………………………………....51 The Queer Revolutionary Aesthetic of Trixie Mattel………………………….……..56 Invading Space as a Revolting White Other……………………………..…….……..70 (Queer) Indigeneity and ‘indian Simulations’ on RuPaul’s Drag Race……………..74 Conclusions: Glimpsing Queer and Decolonial Futurities with Monstrous White Uncanniness………………………….……………………………………………...…..85 Chapter 3: ‘Queer Thyme Because ‘Reality is Bullshit’: Productive Failure in the Queer(ed) Heterotopia of UNHhhh………………………………………………………………………...89 Queer Spaces, Temporalities, and Bodies………………………….………………….91 UNHhhh as Queer(ed) Heterotopia……………………………..….………………….94 Queer(ed) Failure as Resistance…………………………………....………………...111 UNHhhh and the Affirmation of Failed Queer(ed) Bodies…………………………114 UNHhhh and Unsettling Knowledges………………………….………………….....125 Conclusion: ‘Queer Thyme’ Because ‘Reality is Bullshit’……………………..…...129 Chapter 4: Indian as Sad Cowboy, American as Unhappy Russian: Trixie and Katya’s Bad Queer Politics……………………………………………….……………….………………………...132 Bad Queer Politics: Negativity and Contradictory Subjectivities……………….....136 Trixie as Sad Cowboy……………………………………………….………………...140 Katya as Sad Russian Immigrant/Excessively Positive American Settler…………155 Trixie and Katya’s Queer Decolonial Relationality………………………….……...167 Conclusions: Making Space for Queer(ed) Epistemologies and Bodies…..…...…..174 Chapter 5: Miss Chief as Queer Decolonial Killjoy: Unsettling Canada 150 in ‘Queerly Canadian’ Times…………………………………………………………….……………...…177 Queer(ing) and Unsettling Canadian (Art) History………………………….……...186 Representing Queer Settler Participation and Indigenous Resilience in Canadian History………….…………………................................................................................202 Hoelke, 4 Conclusions: Miss Chief and Diva Acts of Citizenship……..…….…………...……208 Conclusion: Embracing Queer and Decolonial Killjoys in a ‘Political Depression’………214 Bibliography………………………….……………………………………………………….221 Secondary Sources………………………….……………………………….………...221 Primary Sources……………………………………….…………….………………...232 Hoelke, 5 List of Figures Figure 1: WOWPresents. (2016, October 10). UNHhhh Ep 26: “Beauty Tips Pt2” w/ Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova [Screen shot of video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bh5V15maRk Figure 2: Murray, N. (Director). (2015). Born naked [Screen shot from television series episode]. In Anderson, M., Bailey, F., Barbato, R., Corfe, S., Gargaro-Magaña, M., Johnson, M., Leslie, K., Maynard, K., McCoy, B., Mills, M., Pezely, J., Piane, L., Polly, J., Porter, H. M., Robinson, L. K., RuPaul, Salangsang, M., Smothers, T., Stahovic, B., Stone, K., & Wegener, C. (Producers), RuPaul’s Drag Race. Los Angeles, CA: World of Wonder Productions Figure 2.1: Murray, N. (Director). (2015). Born naked [Screen shot from television series episode]. In Anderson, M., Bailey, F., Barbato, R., Corfe, S., Gargaro-Magaña, M., Johnson, M., Leslie, K., Maynard, K., McCoy, B., Mills, M., Pezely, J., Piane, L., Polly, J., Porter, H. M., Robinson, L. K., RuPaul, Salangsang, M., Smothers, T., Stahovic, B., Stone, K., & Wegener, C. (Producers), RuPaul’s Drag Race. Los Angeles, CA: World of Wonder Productions Figure 2.2: Deap Vally. (2017, October 25). Deap Vally – Little Baby Beauty Queen [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI08BQ1SufU Figure 2.3: Deap Vally. (2017, October 25). Deap Vally – Little Baby Beauty Queen [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI08BQ1SufU Figure 2.4: Deap Vally. (2017, October 25). Deap Vally – Little Baby Beauty Queen [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI08BQ1SufU Figure 2.5: WOWPresents. (2015 June 17). James St. James and Trixie Mattel: Transformations [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXC54CfEpKM&t= Figure 2.6: Trixie Mattel. (2017 November 7). [Screen shot from Instagram]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/BMhE_gNAEDC/?hl=en&taken-by=trixiemattel Figure 3: WOWPresents. (2016, September 12). UNHhhh Ep 22: “Social Media” w/Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN9ce0EVD2o&t Figure 3.1: WOWPresents. (2016, December 12). UNHhhh Ep 35: “‘Hollywood’ w/ Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjBqGvPFq5Q Figure 3.2: WOWPresents. (2016, November 14). UNHhhh Ep 31: "SPACE" w/ Trixie Mattel & Hoelke, 6 Katya Zamolodchikova [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDWVObgdUaY&t Figure 3.3: WOWPresents. (2016, November 14). UNHhhh Ep 31: "SPACE" w/ Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDWVObgdUaY&t Figure 3.4: WOWPresents. (2016, November 14). UNHhhh Ep 31: "SPACE" w/ Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDWVObgdUaY&t Figure 3.5: WOWPresents. (2016, November 14). UNHhhh Ep 31: "SPACE" w/ Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDWVObgdUaY&t Figure 3.6: WOWPresents. (2016, November 14). UNHhhh Ep 31: "SPACE" w/ Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova [Screen shot from video file]. Retrieved