Introduction
Inequalities in the distribution of power, prejudice, and the representation of some groups as the deviation from the universally accepted norm remain significant issues today. In her analytical article, Kemi Adeyemi gives a new meaning to the well-known physical notion of learning. This essay aims to explore the term proposed by the author and discuss its connections with gender, race, the category of human, and politics.
The Lean in Kemi Adeyemi’s Work
“The lean” that Adeyemi analyzes can be understood as the symbolic representation of otherness and minority groups’ position in relation to the firmly standing powerful section of society. It is the position that both symbolizes and structures vulnerable minorities’ political capacity and finds reflection in race-based police violence (Adeyemi 9). Speaking about race and racial inequality, prominent authors mention “an unfamiliar weight” (Fanon 258), “symbolic control” (Muñoz 93), and “the material otherness” (Haley 25). To some degree, Adeyemi’s analysis of the lean chimes with these ideas and further explores the changes happening to minorities under the weight of others’ power. The researcher establishes links between the notions of rationality and standing firmly on the ground and between deviations from physical verticality during agricultural activities and unguardedness (Adeyemi 13). All of this makes the notion of the lean introduced in the discussed article truly unique and also leads to a discussion of how the ideal of perpendicularity can be reconsidered.
Relationships between the Lean and Other Notions
As opposed to perpendicularity, the lean takes place in the case of different deviations from the norm. Man, Human, or Citizen is a “white, cisgender, heteronormative, and landowning person;” unlike other groups, he has the exclusive right to stay perpendicular to the ground (Adeyemi 12). Regarding racialized embodiment, the visible “deviation” from whiteness places people in situations in which they are expected to perform the lean, for instance, by moving by crawling, to avoid challenging social hierarchies (Fanon 260). As for gendered embodiment, deviance also takes place in the case of non-cisgender individuals and ordinary people going against gender norms, which can influence these groups’ angularity (Adeyemi 14; Muñoz 81). For instance, the portrayal of Black women as people that are overly strong compared to the ideals of femininity can be regarded as an example of two forms of deviation combined together (Haley 40). Adeyemi explores the lean in gender non-conforming racial minorities with reference to Shade Compositions – the performance that depicts the range of acceptable reactions from those different from the majority and how the use of learning can be a form of protest (16).
The Lean and Politics
The discussed article does not depict lean as something that can only be harmful and demonstrates some positive interpretations of lean and its political implications. Aside from the representation of a person’s otherness, the lean can also be read as the mode of voicing complaints without the need to treat the 90° ideal as the only valuable reference point (Adeyemi 17). When learning is fully recognized, experimented with, and becomes the “shared vocabulary” of minority groups, it serves as a new reference point and can construct new collective spaces, thus promoting new politics (Adeyemi 17). The reconstruction of the Black Power discourse by Davis and Fanon’s ability to state the reality of racism and race can be examples of this awareness of being among the vulnerable (Fanon 264; Muñoz 85). Change starts from minority groups’ understanding of their deviance and difference from others.
Conclusion
To sum up, the author contributes to the discussion of the minorities and political life by relating verticality and leaning to political hegemony and the marker of deviance from the norm, respectively. The lean affects entire groups’ political future and results from rather aggressive ways to maintain order and resist change. However, as the author suggests, learning can also be transformed into a response to injustice and an impetus for change.
Works Cited
Adeyemi, Kemi. “Beyond 90°: The Angularities of Black/Queer/Women/Lean.” Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, vol. 29, no. 1, 2019, pp. 9-24.
Fanon, Frantz. “The Fact of Blackness.” Translated by Charles Lamm Markmann. Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader, edited by Les Back and John Solomos, Routledge, 2000, pp. 257-265.
Haley, Sarah. “Carceral Constructions of Black Female Defiance.” No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow Modernity (Justice, Power, and Politics), University of Caroline Press, 2016, pp. 17-57.
Muñoz, José Esteban. “”The White to Be Angry”: Vaginal Davis’s Terrorist Drag.” Social Text, vol. 52/53, 1997, pp. 81-103.