Queering Democracy: From Identity Blurring to Identity Abolition as [ ]

This article invites a rethinking of political subjectivity in democracy as fluid and transformative through engagement with queer theory and practice. Liberal democratic theory conceptualizes participants’ identities as stable and unitary, enabling representation and identity politics. This, however, inhibits individual democratic subjects from self-determining their identities, exploring their multiple selves, and engaging in self-transformation. By combining queer and democratic theory with interviews with queer activists and artists in urban Finland, the study reconceptualizes the democratic subject as constantly transforming. The article identifies two strategies: identity blurring through improper names and identity abolition through [ ]. The unspeakable concept of [ ] demarcates a space void of identity that is yet full of democratic freedom, challenging the contention that identity is a prerequisite for democratic engagement.