Tomasz Sikora | University of the National Education Commission in Krakow (original) (raw)
Journal editions by Tomasz Sikora
Queer Stories of Europe , 2016
Mainstream LGBT activism in recent decades has been dominated by the representational logic, both... more Mainstream LGBT activism in recent decades has been dominated by the representational logic, both in the political and cultural sense, as such representations are believed to secure a stable and “normalized” place for LGBT people in the social order. The cooptation of self- and state-defined gays and lesbians into established social institutions (especially marriage) as well as into national narratives (especially as a marker of Western-type liberal democracies’ civilizational and moral superiority) is just one of the numerous examples of how the politics of representation, firmly based on governable and regulable identities that seek political and social recognition, lead to the neutralization of the radical potential of queer resistance. The notion of representation, as I use it, is multidimensional and extends into several spheres, especially the legal-political and the cultural-aesthetic. In all of these uses, representation is undergirded by the urge for recognition: for self-recognition (“I want a mirror,” I want an image of myself I can identify with and project into the external world as an intelligible identity-image) as well as for social, legal, and political recognition in more collective terms (public visibility, legal protection, equal rights, political representation in governing institutions, etc.). The important and much overlooked consequence of this logic is that the political subject becomes a function of representation; or, to put it even more pointedly, the real political subject—as visible to, and recognized by, structures of power as an apparatus of articulation—is not any living substance, but the representation
itself. Rights are claimed and granted (or denied) to a representation which is taken for, and conflated with, actual living political entities. The term “politics of representation” takes here a very literal meaning: not only in the sense of representation as a method of doing politics, but also the theatre of representation(s) as the horizon of all possible political action, which dramatically reduces political imagination and the notions of the possible and the desirable.
The intention of this special thematic issue of InterAlia is to problematize the notion of a heal... more The intention of this special thematic issue of InterAlia is to problematize the notion of a healthy, (re)productive, desirable body through the lenses of queer and crip theory.
The InterAlia editorial board proudly and gratefully presents the special Bodily Fluids issue, wh... more The InterAlia editorial board proudly and gratefully presents the special Bodily Fluids issue, whose guest editors – Michael O’Rourke, Kamillea Aghtan and Karin Sellberg – have assembled a number of fascinating contributions. Many thanks! As was the case with the previous themed issue (8/2013, published in Polish), guest editors directed the selection and editorial process while observing the peer review standard normally employed at InterAlia. We plan to continue publishing guest-edited thematic issues, as indicated in our published calls.
Papers by Tomasz Sikora
Podkreślając konstytutywną dla teorii i praktyki queer krytykę liberalnego humanizmu, artykuł pro... more Podkreślając konstytutywną dla teorii i praktyki queer krytykę liberalnego humanizmu, artykuł proponuje szerokie spojrzenie na queer jako na politykę pożądania (w ujęciu Deleuzo-Guattariego), różnicy i nadmiaru. Jako taka, polityka queer sprzeciwia się systemowej funkcjonalizacji pożądania i komodyfikacji różnicy, zwracając się raczej ku" polityce czystych środków"(Benjamin), którą autor zestawia z pojęciem" semiotycznego" u Kristevej. Taka konceptualizacja queeru ma określone konsekwencje strategiczne i ...
Niniejszy numer tematyczny czasopisma InterAlia (wraz z jego pierwszą, anglojęzyczną częścią) ma ... more Niniejszy numer tematyczny czasopisma InterAlia (wraz z jego pierwszą, anglojęzyczną częścią) ma w zamyśle sproblematyzować pojęcie zdrowego, (re)produktywnego, godnego pożądania ciała za pomocą narzędzi teorii queer oraz postulowanej przez Roberta McRuera teorii crip (patrz s. 1-19). Perspektywa, jaką przyjęliśmy w zaproszeniu do nadsyłania tekstów, była w dużej mierze kontynua-cją podejścia zaproponowanego w prowokacyjnym artykule autorstwa Pauliny Szkudlarek i Sławo-miry Raczyńskiej, zatytułowanym Zboczone kaleki. Poza sanonormatywnością i somatoestetyką. Głów-ną tezę artykułu można streścić konstatując, że choroba i niepełnosprawność w połączeniu z nie-normatywnymi formami seksualności mają potencjał, aby w dwójnasób podważyć liberalno-huma-nistyczny model współczesnej podmiotowości, pomimo faktu, że dominujące, politycznie poprawne dyskursy neoliberalne starają się skutecznie rozdzielić te-redukcjonistycznie mówiąc-dwa różne "parametry tożsamości", bez względu na to, ...
interalia: a journal of queer studies, 2020
In some places people are trying to write their dissertations on queer topics and are encounterin... more In some places people are trying to write their dissertations on queer topics and are encountering opposition because what they are doing seems unprecedented, a break with academic norms. Their advisors just say, “No, no one has ever done that before and you can’t either.” But elsewhere, it seems like queer topics are already passé. I heard of someone who was told, “You can’t write a queer dissertation – that’s so ‘90s.” Some people assume the good old days of queer theory have passed because they think of extremely brilliant, prominent, individual thinkers, such as Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, D. A. Miller, and so on. Where is the Judith Butler of today? This is part of the reason why I have been drawn to work on queer method. For me, method is about teaching and about the idea that rather than queer theory being the writings of a few individual geniuses, it should be something that can be and should be taught, and that anyone can do. I think it is okay to make clear what...
In this chapter, Majka and Sikora analyze LGBTQ activism in present-day Poland, in the context of... more In this chapter, Majka and Sikora analyze LGBTQ activism in present-day Poland, in the context of neoliberal politics. The authors explain the background to the current situation as rooted in the political and economic transformations, with capitalist priorities, in tandem with Catholic Church leadership. As the LGBTQ movement has emerged and expanded however, it has not become a critical force to challenge the political culture of the status quo, including the realities of inequalities. The authors view the potential of queer politics as a key source for such critical challenges.
interalia: a journal of queer studies, 2016
interalia: a journal of queer studies
Journal of Gender Studies
ABSTRACT The article proposes an analysis of bio- and necropolitics through the notion of intensi... more ABSTRACT The article proposes an analysis of bio- and necropolitics through the notion of intensity in the framework of a Deleuze-and-Guattari-inflected queer theory. One aspect of biopower thus revealed is the power to both animate and deaden, to regulate movement and stoppage, to sensitivise and desensitivise. The article further argues for an alternative, more-than-human or cosmopolitical ecology of affects and affiliations. What is crucial for bioresistance is the capacity to learn to be affected in ever new ways, and art is singled out as the laboratory of such learning. The more ways an entity learns to be affected, the more connectivity it is capable of, and the more potential ‘lines of flight’ or social and cosmic refigurations become possible. The theoretical propositions are juxtaposed with selected works by David Wojnarowicz, not so much for the sake of interpretation as with a view to revitalizing and, perhaps, redirecting contemporary queer thinking and activism. I particularly emphasize the ways in which Wojnarowicz’s work can mobilize a deprivatisation and deatomisation of affects and desire. In order to effectively resist current bio- and necropolitics, I propose, queer must seek to expand the ways of being alive and being-alive-to, ways to affect and be affected.
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it. ... ... more JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it. ... The author considers how nationalistic imaginaries are subtended by sexist and heterosexist assumptions that usually position queers as a threat to national integrity and security. ... The author considers how nationalistic imaginaries are subtended by sexist and heterosexist assumptions that usually position queers as a threat to national integrity and security. ... Niniejszy materiał jest udostępniony na licencji Creative Commons – Uznanie autorstwa - Na tych samych ...
It has been argued, at least since the 1970s, that Canadian literature is pervaded by gothic them... more It has been argued, at least since the 1970s, that Canadian literature is pervaded by gothic themes, moods and conventions. This Canadian streak of Gothicism may be defined as a predilection for the grotesque and the excessive, which threaten the established boundaries so dear to a culture outwardly dedicated to moderation and stability, to" a constant pursuit of a consensus beyond the incongruous and opposing interests and ideological visions," as the conference's Call for Papers puts it. Drawing examples from Canadian literature and ...
Radykalizm jest w stanie kryzysu. Różne sposoby myślenia i działania, które tradycyjnie definiowa... more Radykalizm jest w stanie kryzysu. Różne sposoby myślenia i działania, które tradycyjnie definiowały się jako „radykalne” tracą dziś grunt pod nogami postawione wobec faktu, że kryteria radykalizmu są w coraz większym stopniu wątpliwie i niestabilne. Czyż kapitalizm (wraz ze swoją liberalną podbudową) nie okazuje się na każdym kroku bardziej radykalny w swojej nieustannej „ucieczce do przodu” niż jego najradykalniejsi krytycy czy najradykalniejsze krytyczki? Czyż przypisywanie sobie radykalizmu nie staje się często ...
interalia: a journal of queer studies
Artykuł "To, co nadchodzi: odmieńcze pożądanie i ciało społeczne" jest próbą przeformuł... more Artykuł "To, co nadchodzi: odmieńcze pożądanie i ciało społeczne" jest próbą przeformułowania idei społeczności (sociality) za pomocą aparatu pojęciowego zaproponowanego przez Deleuze'a/Guattariego, a zwłaszcza ich koncepcji pożądania jako podstawowej siły produkującej to, co społeczne. Pożądanie jest w artykule zdefiniowane jako odmieńcza tendencja do powstawania nowych formacji i podmiotowości w polu społecznym. Tej tendencji przeciwstawiony jest "popęd śmierci", który dąży do utrwalania (ossyfikacji) istniejących esencjalizujących się tożsamości, nabierających cech "przeznaczenia". W tym ujęciu odmieńczość byłaby samym procesem namnażania się różnicy, natomiast jednym z istotnych zadań teorii queer byłoby uważne obserwowanie tego, co dopiero "wyłania się" na horyzoncie praktyk społecznych. Nie odrzucając tego, co istnieje, queer skłania się w stronę tego, co nadchodzi. Traktując podejrzliwie wszelkie inwestycje w instytucjonalność i spo...
Queer Stories of Europe , 2016
Mainstream LGBT activism in recent decades has been dominated by the representational logic, both... more Mainstream LGBT activism in recent decades has been dominated by the representational logic, both in the political and cultural sense, as such representations are believed to secure a stable and “normalized” place for LGBT people in the social order. The cooptation of self- and state-defined gays and lesbians into established social institutions (especially marriage) as well as into national narratives (especially as a marker of Western-type liberal democracies’ civilizational and moral superiority) is just one of the numerous examples of how the politics of representation, firmly based on governable and regulable identities that seek political and social recognition, lead to the neutralization of the radical potential of queer resistance. The notion of representation, as I use it, is multidimensional and extends into several spheres, especially the legal-political and the cultural-aesthetic. In all of these uses, representation is undergirded by the urge for recognition: for self-recognition (“I want a mirror,” I want an image of myself I can identify with and project into the external world as an intelligible identity-image) as well as for social, legal, and political recognition in more collective terms (public visibility, legal protection, equal rights, political representation in governing institutions, etc.). The important and much overlooked consequence of this logic is that the political subject becomes a function of representation; or, to put it even more pointedly, the real political subject—as visible to, and recognized by, structures of power as an apparatus of articulation—is not any living substance, but the representation
itself. Rights are claimed and granted (or denied) to a representation which is taken for, and conflated with, actual living political entities. The term “politics of representation” takes here a very literal meaning: not only in the sense of representation as a method of doing politics, but also the theatre of representation(s) as the horizon of all possible political action, which dramatically reduces political imagination and the notions of the possible and the desirable.
The intention of this special thematic issue of InterAlia is to problematize the notion of a heal... more The intention of this special thematic issue of InterAlia is to problematize the notion of a healthy, (re)productive, desirable body through the lenses of queer and crip theory.
The InterAlia editorial board proudly and gratefully presents the special Bodily Fluids issue, wh... more The InterAlia editorial board proudly and gratefully presents the special Bodily Fluids issue, whose guest editors – Michael O’Rourke, Kamillea Aghtan and Karin Sellberg – have assembled a number of fascinating contributions. Many thanks! As was the case with the previous themed issue (8/2013, published in Polish), guest editors directed the selection and editorial process while observing the peer review standard normally employed at InterAlia. We plan to continue publishing guest-edited thematic issues, as indicated in our published calls.
Podkreślając konstytutywną dla teorii i praktyki queer krytykę liberalnego humanizmu, artykuł pro... more Podkreślając konstytutywną dla teorii i praktyki queer krytykę liberalnego humanizmu, artykuł proponuje szerokie spojrzenie na queer jako na politykę pożądania (w ujęciu Deleuzo-Guattariego), różnicy i nadmiaru. Jako taka, polityka queer sprzeciwia się systemowej funkcjonalizacji pożądania i komodyfikacji różnicy, zwracając się raczej ku" polityce czystych środków"(Benjamin), którą autor zestawia z pojęciem" semiotycznego" u Kristevej. Taka konceptualizacja queeru ma określone konsekwencje strategiczne i ...
Niniejszy numer tematyczny czasopisma InterAlia (wraz z jego pierwszą, anglojęzyczną częścią) ma ... more Niniejszy numer tematyczny czasopisma InterAlia (wraz z jego pierwszą, anglojęzyczną częścią) ma w zamyśle sproblematyzować pojęcie zdrowego, (re)produktywnego, godnego pożądania ciała za pomocą narzędzi teorii queer oraz postulowanej przez Roberta McRuera teorii crip (patrz s. 1-19). Perspektywa, jaką przyjęliśmy w zaproszeniu do nadsyłania tekstów, była w dużej mierze kontynua-cją podejścia zaproponowanego w prowokacyjnym artykule autorstwa Pauliny Szkudlarek i Sławo-miry Raczyńskiej, zatytułowanym Zboczone kaleki. Poza sanonormatywnością i somatoestetyką. Głów-ną tezę artykułu można streścić konstatując, że choroba i niepełnosprawność w połączeniu z nie-normatywnymi formami seksualności mają potencjał, aby w dwójnasób podważyć liberalno-huma-nistyczny model współczesnej podmiotowości, pomimo faktu, że dominujące, politycznie poprawne dyskursy neoliberalne starają się skutecznie rozdzielić te-redukcjonistycznie mówiąc-dwa różne "parametry tożsamości", bez względu na to, ...
interalia: a journal of queer studies, 2020
In some places people are trying to write their dissertations on queer topics and are encounterin... more In some places people are trying to write their dissertations on queer topics and are encountering opposition because what they are doing seems unprecedented, a break with academic norms. Their advisors just say, “No, no one has ever done that before and you can’t either.” But elsewhere, it seems like queer topics are already passé. I heard of someone who was told, “You can’t write a queer dissertation – that’s so ‘90s.” Some people assume the good old days of queer theory have passed because they think of extremely brilliant, prominent, individual thinkers, such as Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, D. A. Miller, and so on. Where is the Judith Butler of today? This is part of the reason why I have been drawn to work on queer method. For me, method is about teaching and about the idea that rather than queer theory being the writings of a few individual geniuses, it should be something that can be and should be taught, and that anyone can do. I think it is okay to make clear what...
In this chapter, Majka and Sikora analyze LGBTQ activism in present-day Poland, in the context of... more In this chapter, Majka and Sikora analyze LGBTQ activism in present-day Poland, in the context of neoliberal politics. The authors explain the background to the current situation as rooted in the political and economic transformations, with capitalist priorities, in tandem with Catholic Church leadership. As the LGBTQ movement has emerged and expanded however, it has not become a critical force to challenge the political culture of the status quo, including the realities of inequalities. The authors view the potential of queer politics as a key source for such critical challenges.
interalia: a journal of queer studies, 2016
interalia: a journal of queer studies
Journal of Gender Studies
ABSTRACT The article proposes an analysis of bio- and necropolitics through the notion of intensi... more ABSTRACT The article proposes an analysis of bio- and necropolitics through the notion of intensity in the framework of a Deleuze-and-Guattari-inflected queer theory. One aspect of biopower thus revealed is the power to both animate and deaden, to regulate movement and stoppage, to sensitivise and desensitivise. The article further argues for an alternative, more-than-human or cosmopolitical ecology of affects and affiliations. What is crucial for bioresistance is the capacity to learn to be affected in ever new ways, and art is singled out as the laboratory of such learning. The more ways an entity learns to be affected, the more connectivity it is capable of, and the more potential ‘lines of flight’ or social and cosmic refigurations become possible. The theoretical propositions are juxtaposed with selected works by David Wojnarowicz, not so much for the sake of interpretation as with a view to revitalizing and, perhaps, redirecting contemporary queer thinking and activism. I particularly emphasize the ways in which Wojnarowicz’s work can mobilize a deprivatisation and deatomisation of affects and desire. In order to effectively resist current bio- and necropolitics, I propose, queer must seek to expand the ways of being alive and being-alive-to, ways to affect and be affected.
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it. ... ... more JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it. ... The author considers how nationalistic imaginaries are subtended by sexist and heterosexist assumptions that usually position queers as a threat to national integrity and security. ... The author considers how nationalistic imaginaries are subtended by sexist and heterosexist assumptions that usually position queers as a threat to national integrity and security. ... Niniejszy materiał jest udostępniony na licencji Creative Commons – Uznanie autorstwa - Na tych samych ...
It has been argued, at least since the 1970s, that Canadian literature is pervaded by gothic them... more It has been argued, at least since the 1970s, that Canadian literature is pervaded by gothic themes, moods and conventions. This Canadian streak of Gothicism may be defined as a predilection for the grotesque and the excessive, which threaten the established boundaries so dear to a culture outwardly dedicated to moderation and stability, to" a constant pursuit of a consensus beyond the incongruous and opposing interests and ideological visions," as the conference's Call for Papers puts it. Drawing examples from Canadian literature and ...
Radykalizm jest w stanie kryzysu. Różne sposoby myślenia i działania, które tradycyjnie definiowa... more Radykalizm jest w stanie kryzysu. Różne sposoby myślenia i działania, które tradycyjnie definiowały się jako „radykalne” tracą dziś grunt pod nogami postawione wobec faktu, że kryteria radykalizmu są w coraz większym stopniu wątpliwie i niestabilne. Czyż kapitalizm (wraz ze swoją liberalną podbudową) nie okazuje się na każdym kroku bardziej radykalny w swojej nieustannej „ucieczce do przodu” niż jego najradykalniejsi krytycy czy najradykalniejsze krytyczki? Czyż przypisywanie sobie radykalizmu nie staje się często ...
interalia: a journal of queer studies
Artykuł "To, co nadchodzi: odmieńcze pożądanie i ciało społeczne" jest próbą przeformuł... more Artykuł "To, co nadchodzi: odmieńcze pożądanie i ciało społeczne" jest próbą przeformułowania idei społeczności (sociality) za pomocą aparatu pojęciowego zaproponowanego przez Deleuze'a/Guattariego, a zwłaszcza ich koncepcji pożądania jako podstawowej siły produkującej to, co społeczne. Pożądanie jest w artykule zdefiniowane jako odmieńcza tendencja do powstawania nowych formacji i podmiotowości w polu społecznym. Tej tendencji przeciwstawiony jest "popęd śmierci", który dąży do utrwalania (ossyfikacji) istniejących esencjalizujących się tożsamości, nabierających cech "przeznaczenia". W tym ujęciu odmieńczość byłaby samym procesem namnażania się różnicy, natomiast jednym z istotnych zadań teorii queer byłoby uważne obserwowanie tego, co dopiero "wyłania się" na horyzoncie praktyk społecznych. Nie odrzucając tego, co istnieje, queer skłania się w stronę tego, co nadchodzi. Traktując podejrzliwie wszelkie inwestycje w instytucjonalność i spo...
This paper critically discusses the worldview that technology can solve any problem regarding was... more This paper critically discusses the worldview that technology can solve any problem regarding waste. A focus on technological fix may lead to an increase in problems in the future. The author argues that we might benefit from a cultural analysis of our notions of cleanliness and dirt, purity and contamination.
interalia: a journal of queer studies
interalia: a journal of queer studies
interalia: a journal of queer studies
2011, Towards Critical Multiculturalism:Dialogues Between / Among Canadian Diasporas - Vers un mu... more 2011, Towards Critical Multiculturalism:Dialogues Between / Among Canadian Diasporas - Vers un multiculturalisme critique : dialogues entre les diasporas canadiennes, Katowice: Wydawnictwo Para (co-editors: Ewelina Bujnowska, Tomasz Sikora).
1. Multiculturalism and Its Monsters 2. Fleshed Out: On Meat and Excess 3. Performing the (No... more 1. Multiculturalism and Its Monsters
2. Fleshed Out: On Meat and Excess
3. Performing the (Non)Human
4. Bodies, Boundaries, and the Death Drive
5. Desiring Bodies and the Vicissitudes of Transgression
6. The Pornography of Bare Life
7. Queer Epidemics
The lecture (or lecture-performance) proposes a politics of queer that draws from (theorizations ... more The lecture (or lecture-performance) proposes a politics of queer that draws from (theorizations of) art and aesthetics rather than from the liberal-legalistic vocabulary of recognition, representation and rights. Just as an avant-garde artist, by creating modes of signification and relationality that do not fall into a pre-existing framework of legibility, addresses a (virtual) audience that is yet to come (and thus faces a high risk of failure, as the audience may never come to materialize, after all), so – arguably – queer activism (and queer theory) performs a politics that is “not the terrain of the representation of a people […] but of their creation,” to use Nicholas Thoburn’s characterization of the Deleuzo-Guattarian concept of “minor politics,” i.e. a politics where “the people are missing.” Or, as Julia Kristeva puts it (paraphrasing Albert Camus), “I revolt, therefore we are to come.” Not that questions of access, privilege and (re)distribution (especially the distribution of “livability”) become irrelevant in this perspective; on the contrary, it is precisely through these questions (“I revolt”) that the queer “politics without a people” can articulate, or – better – materialize itself at all. This (possibly unintelligible) articulation and materialization is a matter of intensity, not of representation. To put my argument rather formulaically, just as art never ceases to create (ontologically) “queer objects” (with a broad definition of object), so queer politics never ceases to create queer practices, subjectivities and socialities beyond the current liberal-humanist epistemological normativities. While all of the above may sound rather abstract, I hope to make my points clearer by illustrating them with specific examples from (mostly Polish) LGBT(Q?) activism and art.
The InterAlia editorial board proudly and gratefully presents the special Bodily Fluids issue, wh... more The InterAlia editorial board proudly and gratefully presents the special Bodily Fluids issue, whose guest editors – Michael O’Rourke, Kamillea Aghtan and Karin Sellberg – have assembled a number of fascinating contributions. Many thanks! As was the case with the previous themed issue (8/2013, published in Polish), guest editors directed the selection and editorial process while observing the peer review standard normally employed at InterAlia. We plan to continue publishing guest-edited thematic issues, as indicated in our published calls.
InterAlia: a journal of queer studies (ISSN 2523-2126) invites contributions for its forthcoming ... more InterAlia: a journal of queer studies (ISSN 2523-2126) invites contributions for its forthcoming general issue 15/2020.
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