Abstract

How to access, read, and interpret queer-feminist live art from a transnational perspective? And how to account for those subjects whose geopolitical positionalities do not subscribe to the most acknowledged Euro-American canons? In this article, I will address these questions by engaging with the limits of a queer theory (or practice) that does not acknowledge its feminist co-constitution or that it is anchored to Anglo-American perspectives and genealogies. I will then propose a transnational approach to enrich this field and counteract the reproduction of abstract queer equivalences across cultures. Adopting what I call a ‘transnational queer-feminist methodology’ will therefore be essential for working with and analysing queer and queer-feminist live art that is produced and circulated across and within diverse geopolitical locations. I will describe how the latter relies on an interdisciplinary weaving of social sciences, queer, and performance studies/practices. I will use this approach in analysing Ghanaian transgender artist Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi [crazinisT artisT], unpacking the issues of cultural and linguistic translation in her work. The artist (who asks to be called with the pronouns ’sHit’ or ‘she’) engages in endurance actions that, together with challenging her own physical boundaries, also expose the limits of Western identity markers. In applying a transnational queer-feminist methodology that expands from the regional (Ghana) towards transnational Pan-African perspectives, I will then argue that her work uses the aesthetics of abjection to counteract cultural and linguistic imperialisms and become ‘illegible’ to the neo-liberal global LGBT rights formulations whilst speaking for a transversal queer African subjectivity.

摘要

如何从跨国角度接触、阅读和解读酷儿女权主义现场艺术？如何解释那些地缘政治立场不遵守最受认可的欧美准则的主体？在本文中，我将通过探讨酷儿理论（或实践）的局限性来解决这些问题，该理论（或实践）不承认其女权主义共同构成或植根于英美观点和谱系。然后，我将提出一种跨国方法来丰富这一领域，并抵制跨文化的抽象酷儿对等的再现。因此，采用我所说的“跨国酷儿女权主义方法论”对于处理和分析在不同地缘政治地点之间和内部产生和传播的酷儿和酷儿女权主义现场艺术至关重要。我将描述后者如何依赖社会科学、酷儿和表演研究/实践的跨学科编织。我将使用这种方法来分析加纳跨性别艺术家 Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi [crazinisT artisT]，揭示她作品中的文化和语言翻译问题。这位艺术家（要求用代词“sHit”或“she”来称呼）从事耐力活动，这些活动在挑战她自己的身体界限的同时，也暴露了西方身份标记的局限性。在应用跨国酷儿女权主义方法时，从区域（加纳）扩展到跨国泛非视角，