Culture Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies· 2026Q1
Toward a Hauntological Theory of Pejoratives
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- 2026year
Short summary
Pejoratives like 'bitch,' 'cunt,' and 'tranny' remain 'haunted' by their derogatory origins even when reclaimed, demonstrating the instability of language and its entanglement with misogyny, transphobia, and commodification.
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Key points
- Pejoratives are conceptualized as materio-discursive phenomena through a hauntological framework.
- Theories of the fold, hauntology, the Möbius strip, assemblage, and affect are used to analyze pejoratives.
- Three axioms: pejoratives are always haunted, material contexts influence meaning, and reclamation does not end haunting.
- Analysis of 'bitch,' 'cunt,' and 'tranny' shows their continued entanglement with misogyny, transphobia, and neoliberal commodification, even when reclaimed.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article develops a hauntological framework for conceptualizing pejoratives as materio-discursive phenomena. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s concepts of the fold and hauntology, pejoratives are conceptualized through the Möbius strip alongside related concepts of assemblage and affect, whose derogatory, neutralized, reclaimed, and haunted forms coexist simultaneously. Three axioms guide this inquiry: pejoratives are always-already haunted, material contexts haunt meaning, and reclamation does not end haunting. Examining bitch , cunt , and tranny across dictionary entries, Ballroom culture, and RuPaul’s Drag Race , the article demonstrates how reclaimed language remains entangled with misogyny, transphobia, and neoliberal commodification, foregrounding the instability of meaning.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Culture Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Communication
CommunicationSocial Sciences