Checkpoints of desire. Theorizing the nexus of multilingualism, sexuality, and (in)securitization

Dr. Tommaso Milani (Penn State Applied Linguistics)

In sociolinguistics, the notion of (in)securitization has recently been proposed as a heuristic lens through which to better understand how everyday practices of surveillance and lived experiences of vulnerability are mediated through linguistic means (Rampton and Charalambous 2020). While sociolinguistic research informed by (in)securitization has offered nuanced analyses of the complex ways in which language(s) produce (in)security, this body of work has largely neglected to consider how more intimate domains such as sexual and romantic relations may also become charged spaces of (in)securitization. Against this backdrop, the aim of this talk is twofold. Firstly, I will give an empirical example of the role played by multilingualism in the (in)securitization of sexual and romantic intimacy in the context of the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Palestine. Secondly, on a more conceptual level, I draw upon work in geography (Ritchie 2010) to advance the notion of the checkpoint as an analytical tool through which to theorize more precisely the discursive accomplishment of (self-)surveillance. The point I want to make is that checkpoints are not only external barriers that determine the kinetic regulation of people and goods; they can also be internalized “technologies of the Self” (Foucault 1988) and “structures of feeling” (Williams 1977) that regiment how people police themselves, their identities and their emotional attachments to others in everyday interactions. And, as I will show, multilingualism can play a key function in regulating the interactional push-and-pull of desire in relation to (in)securitization.