Sita Balani, "Deadly and Slick: Sexual Modernity and the Making of Race" (Verso, 2023)
May 5, 2023
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Author Sita Balani discusses how race intertwines with sexuality to create social constructs, highlighting its impact on modern political subjects. Topics include colonial governance in British India, LGBTQ+ policies under Blairism, and the intersections of race and sexuality in South Asian literature.
Sexuality is intimately intertwined with the construction of race in modernity.
The promises of sexual modernity are contrasted with entrenched hierarchies of power structures.
Scientific taxonomies and evolutionary theories influence racial categorization through sex and sexuality.
Racial hygiene in colonial India and post-war Britain maintained distinctions through sexual regulations.
Deep dives
Exploring Racialization of British Asians and Intersectionality
The podcast delves into the racialization of British Asians, examining how race intersects with sexuality. The speaker, Sita Balani, discusses the historical context of the British Empire and its impact on British Asians from colonial India to contemporary Britain. By exploring these intersections, she aims to overcome impasses in discussions of intersectionality.
Understanding Sexual Modernity and Contradiction in Cultural Studies
Sita dissects the notion of sexual modernity by highlighting its promise of self-realization through romantic love or sexual expression while also acknowledging the omnipresence of sexual violence. She contrasts this ideal with the entrenched hierarchies of gender, race, and colonial power structures, emphasizing the importance of a Gramscian cultural studies approach that embraces contradiction and the understanding of power dynamics.
Evolution of Sexual Modernity through Taxonomy and Racial Categories
The episode explores the connection between the emergence of sexual modernity and the development of racial categories informed by scientific taxonomies. It delves into how figures like Carl Linnaeus categorized humans based on sexual characteristics, shaping understandings of race and gender. The analysis extends to the impact of Darwin's theory of evolution on racial differences, highlighting the foundational role of sex and sexuality in determining racial categorization.
Implications of Racial Hygiene in Colonial India and Post-War British Welfare State
Sita analyzes the concept of racial hygiene in colonial India and its implications on maintaining racial distinctions amid colonial rule. The episode discusses how colonial administrators regulated sexual relationships to uphold racial hierarchies, especially regarding British Asians. Additionally, it examines the welfare state in post-war Britain, revealing how racial distinctions were reinforced through policies aimed at disciplining the citizenry into nuclear family units.
Blairism, Queer Sexuality, and Criminalization of Muslim Communities
The podcast investigates the era of Blairism and its complex interplay with attitudes towards queer sexuality and perceptions of Muslim communities. It uncovers how the liberalization of gay rights coincided with growing suspicions towards Muslim individuals, reflecting broader shifts in societal norms and political rhetoric. The analysis sheds light on how these seemingly divergent narratives were instrumentalized for hegemonic purposes in the 1990s and 2000s.
Exploring Children's Role in Sexual Modernity and Moral Panics
Sita delves into the role of children in shaping sexual modernity and fomenting moral panics around gender and sexuality education. The episode investigates how children are perceived as symbols of innocence outside the adult world of choice, influencing contemporary race and gender politics. By examining moral panics related to children, the discussion underscores the societal anxieties surrounding sexual freedoms and gender identities in educational settings.
Upcoming Projects and Future Research on Power Dynamics
In the concluding segment, Sita shares insights into her upcoming projects and research focus on understanding how desires manifest amidst deteriorating economic conditions and are manipulated by forms of state power. She hints at exploring undercover policing and the intricate mechanisms of power dynamics in society, aiming to unveil the impact of state powers on individual autonomy and resistance.
If race is increasingly understood to be socially constructed, why does it continue to seem like a physiological reality? In Deadly and Slick: Sexual Modernity and the Making of Race(Verso, 2023), Sita Balani argues that the trickery of race comes down to how it is embedded in everyday life through the domain we take to be most intimate and essential: sexuality. Modernity inaugurates a new political subject made legible as an individual through the nuclear family, sexual adventure and the pursuit of romantic love. By examining the regulation of sexual life at Britain's borders, in colonial India, and through the functioning of the welfare state, marriage laws, education, and counterterrorism, Balani reveals that sexuality has become fatally intertwined with the making of race.
Louisa Hann attained a PhD in English and American studies from the University of Manchester in 2021, specialising in the political economy of HIV/AIDS theatres. She has published work on the memorialisation of HIV/AIDS on the contemporary stage and the use of documentary theatre as a neoliberal harm reduction tool. She is currently working on a monograph based on her doctoral thesis. You can get in touch with her at louisahann92@gmail.com.
