A Queer Theory of the State — Samuel Clowes Huneke

Queer theory has often been hesitant to align itself with a politics of the state, approaching it with a negative or pragmatic framework. A Queer Theory of the State expands an earlier online essay from The Point by historian Samuel Huneke to offer a more optimistic perspective. Rather than eschew political engagement with democratic theorizing, Huneke asks how queer theory can wed its critically anti-normative impulses to the empirical need for a state. In answering this question, Huneke shows how the state is an integral component of a politics that seeks to subvert and undo the oppression of queer lives.

A Lambda Literary Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Book

Reviews

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This short book contributes to the burgeoning body of literature that challenges queer theory to seriously consider questions pertaining to material change and outcomes within the state by revisiting the debate between LGBT studies and queer theory. It is important reading for academics working with queer theory who are interested in purposeful critique, and can serve as an accessible introduction to this central debate for students.” Georgia Peters, International Feminist Journal of Politics