Definitions HQ

Resignification (n.) means ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠speaking in ways never yet legitimated, and so producing legitimation in new and future forms.

Resignification (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠norms is a function of their inefficacy: subversion means working the weakness in the norm by inhabiting its rearticulation.

Resignification (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠limits: why can 'queer' be affirmatively resignified while 'nigger' seems able only to reinscribe its pain?

Resignification (n.) lives ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in the gap between what an utterance intended and what it does: for a threat to be returned and defused, its effects must exceed its aims.

Resignification (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠reinscription risks miming too closely the terms it displaces, so that under hegemonic pressure the displacement is reversed and the concept restored to its ground.

Resignification (n.) deofficializes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the performative: hate speech meant to silence revives in the vocabulary of the silenced as its unexpected rejoinder, expropriated for non-ordinary ends.

Resignification (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠granted to the law but denied to hate speech: legal language with a reactionary history may be turned progressive, yet slurs are said to have 'no other connotation'.