Estudos lesbianos e teoria cuíer pós-moderna

Abstract

In this article, published in the germinal anthology The new lesbian studies: into the twenty-first century (1996),, Harriet Malinowitz discusses the controversial
encounter of identitarian policies ”“ so dear to feminism and to lesbian, gay and transsexual activist and academic movements of the 1990s ”“ and the proposals of post-identitarian post-modernist and queer theories, also from the same decade, which threatened to totally pulverize “solid” identities. Taking a critical approach based on the notion of difference set forth by the black lesbian activist, thinker and writer Audre Lorde, Malinowitz historicizes the feminist legacy of queer theories suggesting that feminist lesbian studies be again based on and by the encounter of differences, in which the existence and affirmation of lesbianism is regarded as political, alive and non-monolithic. The translation of the article, done 20 years after its publication, and 20 years after the death of Audre Lorde, shows the breadth and relevance of Malinowitz’s analysis, and its pertinence to a crucial moment for feminist, lesbian feminist and/or queer theories, proposing that political disputes be overcome with critical theories that promote coalitions, alliances, and transformations.