Smashing containers, queering the international through collaging

ABSTRACT

This article explores the potential of collage epistemology to cultivate queer intellectual curiosity about international relations. It argues that collaging and queering share many points of departure: in both, objects are taken from their conventional contexts and assembled into new relational constellations. The article draws from pedagogical work where collages were used in university teaching on the politics of gender and sexuality. A set of collages made by students are interpreted and brought into a dialogue with queer theorizing. The article suggests that collaging involves smashing a variety of containers that social sciences inquiry often operates with. It troubles not only established conceptions of sexuality and intimacy but also territoriality and theorizing. On this basis, the article concludes that collaging offers a fruitful modality of thought, analysis and expression for queer world-making projects.

KEYWORDS:

• Collages
• art
• queer
• relationality
• IR methodology
• pedagogy

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the students who took part in the collage workshops and without whom this research would not have been possible as well as Masha Godovannaya and Olga Burmakova for their valuable contributions to the workshops. The constructive and encouraging comments from the reviewers greatly contributed to improving the final version of the article. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Kone Foundation.

ORCID

Saara Särmä http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0999-8957