Affect and queer intimate entanglements in national-neoliberal Estonia

This article examines the affective entanglements and queer/ed intimacies in post-Soviet Estonia by analyzing ethnographic fieldwork. To build an intersectionally engaged analysis, the article employs Karen Barad’s agential realist model of intra-actions to show how intimate relationships are tied t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sexualities 2024-03, Vol.27 (3), p.718-732
Main Authors: Marling, Raili, Põldsam, Rebeka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Heteronormativity
Homophobia
Nationalism
Neoliberalism
Rationality
Sexuality
Socioeconomic status
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Summary:This article examines the affective entanglements and queer/ed intimacies in post-Soviet Estonia by analyzing ethnographic fieldwork. To build an intersectionally engaged analysis, the article employs Karen Barad’s agential realist model of intra-actions to show how intimate relationships are tied to socio-economic status and cultural setting. In Estonia, intimacy is framed by a homophobic discourse that erases anything but heteronormativity. This public erasure produces, on the one hand, moral panics and, on the other hand, affectively complex intimate entanglements among queer/ed subjects. The empirical analysis discusses conversations with five straight and queer women that contain rich affective narratives. It investigates how a person’s economic situation relates to their intimate relationship choice in a social sphere that is dominated by nationalist discourse and neoliberal rationality. This has created contradictory affective responses that are unpacked and contextualized in the article.
ISSN:1363-4607
1461-7382
DOI:10.1177/13634607221112646