Bad Education: Why Queer Theory Teaches Us Nothing

Lee Edelman's Bad Education argues that queerness is a figural name for the void around which the social order takes shape, designating the antagonism and structuring negativity that prevents it from achieving coherence. By translating the nothing of queerness into the something of "the queer," the order of meaning defends against the senselessness that undoes it, mirroring education's response to queerness.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 368 pages
Publication date: 03 February 2023
Publisher: Duke University Press

Lee Edelman's groundbreaking work, Bad Education, challenges the conventional understanding of queerness and reignites the debate within queer theory. In this thought-provoking book, Edelman proposes a queerness that exists beyond positive identity, envisioning it as a figural name for the void, an unnamable essence that shapes the social order. Similar to concepts such as Blackness, womanhood, incest, and sex, queerness signifies the antagonism, the structuring negativity, that hinders the coherence of the social order. However, when certain individuals are perceived as literalizing queerness, the negation of their negativity can appear to resolve social antagonism and create a unified community. Edelman contends that by translating the nothingness of queerness into the something of "the queer," the order of meaning is safeguarded against the senselessness that undermines it. This mirrors Edelman's argument that education's response to queerness involves sublimating irony into the meaningfulness of a world. By engaging with Lacan's concept of "ab-sens" and in dialogue with feminist and Afropessimist thought, Edelman delves into the works of Shakespeare, Jacobs, Almodóvar, Lemmons, and Haneke, among others, to demonstrate why queer theory's engagement with queerness inevitably leads to a bad education that teaches us nothing. Bad Education is a thought-provoking and provocative exploration of queerness, challenging readers to reevaluate their understanding of identity and society.

Weight: 599g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478018629