Disidentifications

There is more to identity than identifying with one's culture or standing solidly against it. Jos Esteban Muoz looks at how those outside the racial and sexual mainstream negotiate majority culture-not by aligning themselves with or against exclusionary works but rather by transforming these works for their own cultural purposes. Muoz calls this process "disidentification," and through a study of its workings, he develops a new perspective on minority performance, survival, and activism.DisidentificationsMuoz calls attention to the world-making properties found in performances by queers of color-in Carmelita Tropicana's "Camp/Choteo" style politics, Marga Gomez's performances of queer childhood, Vaginal Creme Davis's "Terrorist Drag," Isaac Julien's critical melancholia, Jean-Michel Basquiat's disidentification with Andy Warhol and pop art, Felix Gonzalez-Torres's performances of "disidentity," and the political performance of Pedro Zamora, a person with AIDS, within the otherwise artificial environment of the MTV serialThe Real World.