ABSTRACT

The study of sexuality, especially queer sexuality, has occupied a historically marginal position within political economy. Where feminist scholars have addressed the topic, they have typically done so through the lens of women’s sexual labour and social reproduction and/or by framing sexual orientation and gender identity as a variable through which patterns of differentiation may occur. Most critical political economy ignores sexuality entirely. As a result, matters of queer oppression and resistance have not been systematically investigated or theorised. This paper addresses this gap by fusing together insights from the emergent ‘queering IPE’ literature with two other strands of scholarship that integrate queer concerns into the study of global capitalism: the ‘globalisation’ and ‘state-centric’ frames. Based on this, I propose a theoretical framework for understanding queer struggle and apply this to the analysis of LGBTI politics and activism in Ghana. The paper argues that queer oppression and resistance are important topics of inquiry in and of themselves in political economy. At the same time, a broader ontological shift is required to recognise the constitutive role of sexuality within political economic phenomena, which has potentially far-reaching implications for future research agendas within and beyond the study of queer politics.

摘要

性研究，尤其是酷儿性研究，在政治经济学中一直处于历史边缘地位。在女权主义学者讨论这个话题的地方，他们通常是通过女性的性劳动和社会再生产的视角和/或通过将性取向和性别认同视为可能出现差异模式的变量来做到这一点的。大多数批判性的政治经济学完全忽略了性。结果，酷儿压迫和抵抗的问题没有得到系统的研究或理论化。本文通过将新兴的“酷儿 IPE”文献中的见解与将酷儿关注纳入全球资本主义研究的另外两个学术分支融合在一起来解决这一差距：“全球化”和“以国家为中心”的框架。基于此，我提出了一个理解酷儿斗争的理论框架，并将其应用于分析加纳的 LGBTI 政治和激进主义。该论文认为，酷儿压迫和反抗是政治经济学中重要的研究主题。与此同时，需要进行更广泛的本体论转变，以认识到性在政治经济现象中的构成性作用，这对未来的研究议程可能具有深远的影响，无论是在酷儿政治研究中还是在研究之外。