How do queer temporalities disrupt linear narratives and normative understandings of life and identity?
The term "queer" refers to non-normative ways of being and doing in relation to gender and sexuality, including but not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and questioning identities. Queer temporality challenges linear models of time that privilege progressive development towards an idealized future, emphasizing instead the value of playfulness, experimentation, and changeability within individual lives. This approach can disrupt dominant discourses about life course trajectories and personal growth, enabling new forms of self-expression, community building, and resistance against oppression. In this essay, I will explore how queer temporalities challenge traditional concepts of time, space, and social identity through an analysis of historical events, contemporary activism, and artistic practices.
Throughout history, there have been many examples of individuals who defied societal expectations around gender and sexuality. One such figure is French writer Colette, whose memoirs revealed her fluid explorations of love and identity throughout her lifetime. Born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in a rural village outside Paris in 1873, she married a man at age 20 and spent much of her early years writing for him under his name. As her career took off, she began to assert herself as a public intellectual and author, eventually publishing works under her own name and pursuing romantic relationships with multiple women. Colette's unconventional lifestyle was met with widespread disapproval from critics and members of society alike; however, her work continues to inspire generations of LGBTQ+ writers and artists today.
In modern times, queer temporalities have gained visibility in movements like Black Lives Matter and MeToo, which prioritize healing, collective care, and intergenerational solidarity over the linear progression towards social justice. These efforts emphasize the importance of recognizing past traumas and intergenerational legacies, while also embracing alternative modes of organizing and community building that challenge normative understandings of success and progress. Similarly, Indigenous resistance movements against colonization have centered circular forms of time that reject the imposition of linear narratives by settler colonialism. By reframing historical events and cultural practices through a cyclical rather than teleological lens, these communities reclaim their sovereignty and self-determination.
Queer temporalities can also be found in artistic expression, including films such as Pariah (2011) and The Watermelon Woman (1996), which explore Black lesbian identities within a postcolonial framework. Both movies question binary notions of gender and sexuality while challenging dominant narratives about how Black people should live their lives.
Pariah depicts a young woman who struggles to reconcile her sexual orientation with her West African family's expectations for marriage, while The Watermelon Woman follows a filmmaker who discovers a long-lost Black actress from Hollywood's golden age while researching queer history. Through these stories, viewers are invited to consider multiple ways of being and living beyond traditional models of time and identity.
Queer temporality offers an important perspective on the nature of time and personal growth that challenges traditional ideas about linear development and rigid gender roles. By exploring alternative forms of intimacy, community building, and political action, this approach invites us to imagine new possibilities for ourselves and our world.
How do queer temporalities disrupt linear narratives and normative understandings of life and identity?
Queer temporalities refer to non-normative ways of understanding time that challenge traditional linear narratives and dominant discourses of identity. This can involve challenging assumptions about chronology, sequencing, and causality, as well as rejecting the idea that there is only one way to experience and construct time.