A Queer Politics of Imperceptibility: a Philosophy of Resistance to Contemporary Sexual Surveillance Andie Shabbar the University of Western Ontario
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository January 2019 A Queer Politics of Imperceptibility: A Philosophy of Resistance to Contemporary Sexual Surveillance Andie Shabbar The University of Western Ontario Supervisor James, Joy The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Women's Studies and Feminist Research A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Andie Shabbar 2018 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Continental Philosophy Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Feminist Philosophy Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, and the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons Recommended Citation Shabbar, Andie, "A Queer Politics of Imperceptibility: A Philosophy of Resistance to Contemporary Sexual Surveillance" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5973. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5973 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Abstract This thesis journeys through a series of events to develop a concept of “imperceptibility” as a mode of resistance to contemporary sexual surveillance. The events I examine include biometric recognition of gender and race at airport security checkpoints, the heteropatriarchal colonial surveillance of Indigenous peoples at Standing Rock, various protest actions, and the political potentials of glitch art. Exploring their unexpected points of connection, my goal is to bring into view acts of resistance against sexual surveillance that already operate below and above the threshold of everyday perception. The project advocates for a philosophy of resistance that underscores the political importance of creating new modes of existence. Rather than engaging in the problematic of devising a new model of subjectivity, I argue that what is needed to escape from contemporary systems of capture and control is to turn from the Self as the primary site of concern and affirm instead the potentials of becoming-imperceptible. Imperceptibility signals not invisibility, but the act of relinquishing identity in favour of moving toward becoming everybody/everything. Far from a homogenizing or unitary endeavour, I propose imperceptibility as a radical celebration of difference that surges a revolutionary desire for social transformation through interconnectedness. Activating Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s pragmatic philosophy and style of writing, which emphasize multiple relations over binary oppositions, I introduce “a queer politics of imperceptibility” as a conceptual framework that takes a both/and approach to consider resistance. That is, I work with and between the tensions of feminist theories of ii recognition and Deleuze and Guattari’s nonrepresentational philosophy. I develop this framework in each chapter by mapping a constellation of interacting forces and affective intensities between bodies, both human and non-human. A Queer Politics of Imperceptibility makes an important intervention into the fields of feminist surveillance studies, posthumanism, affect theory, postcolonial theory and queer theory by revealing the ways in which imperceptible relations of resistance cascade into the political to generate new potentials to act in the world. Keywords Imperceptibility, becoming, surveillance, sexuality, queer, gender, postcolonial, Standing Rock, DAPL, glitch, art, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Rosi Braidotti, posthuman, recognition politics, politics of location, faciality, colonialism, resistance, panopticism, biometrics iii Acknowledgements I give my deepest gratitude to my family for sustaining me in all ways and sharing in the intensity of the writing process. Their guidance, patience, and financial assistance enabled the joyful completion of the project. I want to extend a special acknowledgement to my Mom for her companionship on this intellectual journey. The ideas generated from our countless conversations are tightly woven into the fabric of this work. Thank you for your brilliance and love. To my friends and chosen family, thank you for the laughs, hugs, and encouragement over the years and for making the voyage both vibrant and memorable. I am honoured to have had the opportunity to work with a powerhouse of academics who supported me in a multitude of ways throughout my doctoral studies. Thank you to my supervisor, Joy James, for her unwavering confidence in my abilities and enthusiasm for the project. Her graduate seminar, “That Thinking|Feeling,” was a force that changed the course of my direction and opened a new academic vista, for which I am forever grateful. I have been fortunate to benefit from the dedication and rigour of my committee members, Helen Fielding and Kim Verwaayen—both of whom provided valuable responses to the work and encouragement throughout. I want to give additional thanks to Kim for her extra administrative support and care. A warm thank you to Wendy Pearson, Susan Knabe, and Jessica Polzer for their guidance and mentorship both as a student and as a part-time faculty member. I would also like to acknowledge Betty Thompson and Alicia McIntyre for their reliable and smooth handling of all administrative details. To my examiners, a powerhouse of their own, Chris Roulston, Kirsty Robertson, Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, and Rosi Braidotti, thank you for generously giving your time to engage with the project and lending your expertise. I would be remiss not to thank my dear students whose intellect, creativity and enthusiasm continue to humble me and positively impact my thinking on feminist theory and practice in unforeseen and exciting ways. When discussing these acknowledgements with a friend, we joked that I should include the names of the scholars, both alive and dead, whose work laid the groundwork for my own. Although perhaps still a laughable idea, I do want to extend a word of gratitude to the scholars (both those I align with and those I critique) for labouring to contribute their thoughts with the world. Having now experienced the joys and pains, twists and turns, loves and losses of writing over a sustained period of time, I am truly appreciative of and humbled by the sheer force and vitality of my brilliant teachers including those I have acknowledged above and those that will appear in the pages below. iv Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... v List of Figures ............................................................................................................. vii List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................... viii 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 2: Surveillance Assemblages ..................................................................................... 20 2.1 The “gaze” in surveillance studies ................................................................. 23 2.2 The spatial arrangements of in-visibility ........................................................ 26 2.3 Digital modulation ......................................................................................... 39 2.4 Reassessing “the surveillant assemblage” ..................................................... 50 2.5 With whose blood were biometrics crafted? .................................................. 61 2.6 Somatic suspension ........................................................................................ 72 2.7 Resistance ...................................................................................................... 87 3: Imperceptibility: Toward a New Philosophy of Resistance ................................ 92 3.1 Sexual surveillance at Standing Rock ............................................................ 99 3.2 The regime of recognition .............................................................................. 110 3.2.1 Either/or .............................................................................................. 117 3.2.2 Subject/object distinction .................................................................... 121 3.2.3 The abstraction of the socially situated body ..................................... 122 3.3 Becoming-imperceptible ................................................................................. 129 3.4 A line of pure resistance ................................................................................ 146 3.5 Queer imperceptibility and the politics of location ....................................... 159 3.5.1 Detaching from the subject/object distinction .................................... 161 v 3.5.2 A politics of location .......................................................................... 163 3.5.3 And, and, and ...................................................................................... 166 3.6 The body-in-becoming