Toward a Hauntological Theory of Pejoratives

This article develops a hauntological framework for conceptualizing pejoratives as materio-discursive phenomena. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s concepts of the fold and hauntology, pejoratives are conceptualized through the Möbius strip alongside related concepts of assemblage and affect, whose derogatory, neutralized, reclaimed, and haunted forms coexist simultaneously. Three axioms guide this inquiry: pejoratives are always-already haunted, material contexts haunt meaning, and reclamation does not end haunting. Examining bitch , cunt , and tranny across dictionary entries, Ballroom culture, and RuPaul’s Drag Race , the article demonstrates how reclaimed language remains entangled with misogyny, transphobia, and neoliberal commodification, foregrounding the instability of meaning.