Sun-tanning with Deleuze and Guattari in greater Sydney, Australia

Abstract

This paper is about relational becomings and opposing forces that may occur when white skin becomes tanned over the course of everyday life. In the Australian context of beach leisure culture and rising melanoma rates, the article draws on the only three participants with diverse ancestry from a larger qualitative research project conducted with 40 young men and women in Greater Sydney, New South Wales. I argue that Deleuze and Guattari’s assemblage thinking, specifically three related concepts of a lifeline have much to offer feminist geographers: molar lines (segmented lines), rupture lines (lines of flight) and molecular lines (crack lines). Here, I illustrate the potential of assemblage thinking to analyse the reciprocal relations between tanning, skin, gender, race and place. I illustrate how tanning sensations are comprised of contradictory forces. I argue that while participants do not escape the molar lines of gender and a Black-White racial dichotomy, there are molecular lines that temporarily disrupt these gendered and racialised regimes.

Keywords:

• Assemblages
• molar lines
• molecular lines
• race
• gender
• qualitative methods

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all participants who shared their sun-tanning experiences. Thank you to the team of research assistants for their enthusiasm and dedication. Thank you to colleagues and reviewers who provided constructive comments on earlier drafts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gordon Waitt

Gordon Waitt is Associate Dean (Equity Diversity and Inclusion) and senior professor of the Australian Centre of Culture, Environment and Society, School of Geography and Sustainable Communities at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Gordon’s research is focussed on everyday experiences as a lens through which to better understand inequalities.