title: Sites of excess: The spatial politics of touch for drag queens in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Johnston, Lynda

subjects: touch

abstract: This paper explores the role of touch for drag queens. I examine the ways in which touch – being touched, touching others, and feelings associated with touch – is an important component of sexualised subjectivities and places. The first part of the paper reviews the recent literature called ‘haptic geographies’. I highlight why sexualised touch has, for the most part, been absent from this literature before bringing together the limited references made to touch, feelings, sexuality and place. In the second part of the paper I draw on various media, my involvement as a member of the queer community group Hamilton Pride Incorporated and in-depth interviews to examine the role of touch and feelings associated with touch for drag queens in Aotearoa New Zealand. I pay attention to the complex politics and performances of drag queens in order to highlight the co-construction of haptic geographies and sexualised subjectivities. I argue that drag queens’ bodies and spaces may be understood as sites of excess where the pleasures and pains of touch may form and break bodily and spatial boundaries associated with hetero/homo and masculine/feminine subjectivities. A focus on drag queens and touch queers our understandings of embodiment and haptic geographies further.

text: Sites of excess: The spatial politics of touch for drag queens in Aotearoa New Zealand This paper explores the role of touch for drag queens. I examine the ways in which touch – being touched, touching others, and feelings associated with touch – is an important component of sexualised subjectivities and places. The first part of the paper reviews the recent literature called ‘haptic geographies’. I highlight why sexualised touch has, for the most part, been absent from this literature before bringing together the limited references made to touch, feelings, sexuality and place. In the second part of the paper I draw on various media, my involvement as a member of the queer community group Hamilton Pride Incorporated and in-depth interviews to examine the role of touch and feelings associated with touch for drag queens in Aotearoa New Zealand. I pay attention to the complex politics and performances of drag queens in order to highlight the co-construction of haptic geographies and sexualised subjectivities. I argue that drag queens’ bodies and spaces may be understood as sites of excess where the pleasures and pains of touch may form and break bodily and spatial boundaries associated with hetero/homo and masculine/feminine subjectivities. A focus on drag queens and touch queers our understandings of embodiment and haptic geographies further.

year: 2010

title: 'Look up here, I'm in heaven': how visual and performance artist David Jones called attention to his physical death

authors: Schott, Gareth R.

subjects: Social Sciences

abstract: Death constitutes an end to consciousness for the departed, while for the living it represents an event out there in a world of objects. The memory of David Bowie as a celebrity was certain to live on via documented images, music and performances, irrespective of the cessation of the acting subject David Jones. When reviewing the single ‘Lazarus’ upon its release in 2016, British journalist Kitty Empire expressed an unwillingness to interpret it as Bowie’s swansong. Her rationale – ‘the starting point for analysis [of Bowie] has never been lived experience’. Yet, this article considers how, had Bowie not served as an agent of his prospective memory and addressed his death directly via his final musical iteration, he may not have died at all in a socially networked society flooded with boundless media content. This article explores how the assured endurance of Bowie’s oeuvre and his standing as a revered cultural icon almost necessitated a reorientation of public engagement with his death in the modern age in order to acknowledge death as an end state that stands in contrast to ‘being’.

text: 'Look up here, I'm in heaven': how visual and performance artist David Jones called attention to his physical death Death constitutes an end to consciousness for the departed, while for the living it represents an event out there in a world of objects. The memory of David Bowie as a celebrity was certain to live on via documented images, music and performances, irrespective of the cessation of the acting subject David Jones. When reviewing the single ‘Lazarus’ upon its release in 2016, British journalist Kitty Empire expressed an unwillingness to interpret it as Bowie’s swansong. Her rationale – ‘the starting point for analysis [of Bowie] has never been lived experience’. Yet, this article considers how, had Bowie not served as an agent of his prospective memory and addressed his death directly via his final musical iteration, he may not have died at all in a socially networked society flooded with boundless media content. This article explores how the assured endurance of Bowie’s oeuvre and his standing as a revered cultural icon almost necessitated a reorientation of public engagement with his death in the modern age in order to acknowledge death as an end state that stands in contrast to ‘being’.

year: 2019

title: He kohikohinga kōrero nō Ngāti Kuia

authors: Hawea, Celia

subjects: Ngāti Kuia

abstract: Ko te tikanga o tēnei mahi rangahau kia whakautu i te pātai e whai ake nei. He aha ngā kōrero-ā-waha, ngā kōrero i roto i ngā pukapuka hoki ka pūmau tonu i ēnei rā mō ngā uri o Ngāti Kuia mō ngā tau kei te heke mai? 

Ko tēnei he kohikohinga nō ngā kōrero o Ngāti Kuia tētahi iwi e noho ana i te Tauihu o te Waka-o-Māui. Ētahi o ngā iwi Māori he maha ngā kōrero e pā ana ki a rātou, engari ko tēnei te pukapuka tuatahi tonu ka tāia e pā ana ki a Ngāti Kuia. Ehara tēnei i te titiro hōhonu, te titiro whānui rānei i ngā kōrero engari he kohikohinga noa iho nō ngā kōrero mō Ngāti Kuia ki roto te pukapuka kotahi. Nā reira, ki te hiahia tētahi kia whāia tēnei huarahi, koinei he tīmatanga, he paku āwhina hoki mōna. 

Ka āhua toru ngā wehenga o te kōrero nei. Ka tīmata i te kupu whakataki, i muri iho ko ngā āhuatanga o te mahi, arā, i pēhea ngā kōrero i kohikohia, ā, ko te whakapapa me ngā tūhonohononga o Ngāti Kuia ki ētahi atu iwi. Ko te wāhanga tuarua, ko te kōrero o nehe rā, arā, ko ngā kōrero mō ngā atua a Tāwhaki rāua ko Māui, he kōrero mō Kupe, he whakataukī, he kōrero hoki mō ngā taniwha o te iwi. Nā, ko te wāhanga tuatoru e pā ana ki ngā tāngata rongonui o Ngāti Kuia, arā, ko Tūtepourangi, ko Tamairangi, ko Hinepoupou, ko Waikura, ko Kehaia.

text: He kohikohinga kōrero nō Ngāti Kuia Ko te tikanga o tēnei mahi rangahau kia whakautu i te pātai e whai ake nei. He aha ngā kōrero-ā-waha, ngā kōrero i roto i ngā pukapuka hoki ka pūmau tonu i ēnei rā mō ngā uri o Ngāti Kuia mō ngā tau kei te heke mai? 

Ko tēnei he kohikohinga nō ngā kōrero o Ngāti Kuia tētahi iwi e noho ana i te Tauihu o te Waka-o-Māui. Ētahi o ngā iwi Māori he maha ngā kōrero e pā ana ki a rātou, engari ko tēnei te pukapuka tuatahi tonu ka tāia e pā ana ki a Ngāti Kuia. Ehara tēnei i te titiro hōhonu, te titiro whānui rānei i ngā kōrero engari he kohikohinga noa iho nō ngā kōrero mō Ngāti Kuia ki roto te pukapuka kotahi. Nā reira, ki te hiahia tētahi kia whāia tēnei huarahi, koinei he tīmatanga, he paku āwhina hoki mōna. 

Ka āhua toru ngā wehenga o te kōrero nei. Ka tīmata i te kupu whakataki, i muri iho ko ngā āhuatanga o te mahi, arā, i pēhea ngā kōrero i kohikohia, ā, ko te whakapapa me ngā tūhonohononga o Ngāti Kuia ki ētahi atu iwi. Ko te wāhanga tuarua, ko te kōrero o nehe rā, arā, ko ngā kōrero mō ngā atua a Tāwhaki rāua ko Māui, he kōrero mō Kupe, he whakataukī, he kōrero hoki mō ngā taniwha o te iwi. Nā, ko te wāhanga tuatoru e pā ana ki ngā tāngata rongonui o Ngāti Kuia, arā, ko Tūtepourangi, ko Tamairangi, ko Hinepoupou, ko Waikura, ko Kehaia.

year: 1995