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Sounding out Community SOUNDING OUT COMMUNITY: MEANINGS OF COMMUNITY, IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE AMONG LESBIANS LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND By Rebecca S. Etz A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School – New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Anthropology written under the direction of Louisa Schein and approved by ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey October 2004 2004 Rebecca S. Etz ALL RIGHTS RESERVED A door is suddenly open – cross the threshold quietly – you will, as if weaving a new pattern, become aware of a larger tapestry and you’ll find, in your own way, the design and direction that matters. – Rhoda Métraux, June 1994 Abstract In this dissertation I examine the “whys” and the “wheres” of community formation. I consider the role of space in the production of lesbian histories and the defining of social space as it impacts the performance of community and sexual identity. Mine is a project that uses the epistemological strength of anthropology to examine the discourses of “sexual identity” and “community.” I consider how New Zealand lesbians define community from within, rather than as others experience it. I consider the creation of generational cohorts that defy the relevance of age and definitions of sexual identity that defy the relevance of the erotic. My analysis shows community to require constant connection, reinforced through repetition, and community-defined sensibilities based on a homonormative symbolic domain. Socially created boundaries and negotiated relationships allow for continued self-authoring and the socialization of new members. Through this study, we understand community as far more significant than a gathering of people with common interests and a budding group awareness. We realize that community cannot exist as detached from the identities that shape it, the space that defines it or the “style in which it is imagined.” Lesbian community allows us both to interrupt the assumed ontological significance of sex to sexual identity and to understand community as a social space implicated in the creation of social history; allowing for authenticity by allowing for a new symbolic domain from which identity may derive meaning. The strength of lesbian community and its ability to adapt through historically situated generational shifts of sentiment is based upon the foundational role of difference as part and parcel to community. Because lesbian community is simultaneously defined by unity as well as by difference, the community-defined sensibilities – belonging/authenticity, reflection/separation, authenticity/self authoring – reflect a similar willingness to negotiate between like histories and disparate interests. The Rangirua lesbian community distinguishes itself by identifying that tension as their common ground, defining themselves by the aspiration to embrace biculturality, deny the assertion of heterosexual or class based privilege and commit to an acceptance/celebration of diversity as their goal. Acknowledgements From start to finish, the only time I have felt my skills to be inadequate is when I sat down to write these acknowledgements. A few sentences and key phrases cannot fully express my appreciation nor equal the generosity of spirit I have been fortunate to receive. Thank you. I am sincerely grateful to all who have helped me whether or not their names appear below. I am grateful to the many women of the Rangirua who participated in my research as well as those who declined to participate but remained friends, offering advice and connections freely. I wish I had the room to name everyone. I am indebted to the Friends of Dorothy, the Dinner Club, the Dining Out Group, the women of Awhitu, the Lesbian Support Group, the Dykes in the Aisles, the Rangirua Gay and Lesbian Association Network (RAGLAN), Club ABS, Club Loud and Proud, and “Pinky” for always making my whereabouts known. A particular thank you for the friendship, intensity and laughs: Ang, Annette, Caroline, Cathy, Col, Deb, Debra, Ellis, Gale, George, Hil, Jan, Jen, Jenny, Jil, Jill, Julie, Julz, Kate, Kiri, Lee, Leslie, Lou, Mary, Mitch, River, Rowan, Shelly, Sheryl-Leigh, Stephan, Sue and Tracey. Additional thanks to Agnes, Caiti, Charmaine, Debi, Gael, Heather, Hilary, Jax, Jo, Joy, Pam, Rhondda, Sharon, Sue, Tanya and Tracy. I thank Alison Laurie who showed an interest in my research and convinced me that New Zealand was the place I should be. I am indebted to Mary Helen who provided introductions for me before my fieldwork began. Because of her assistance, doors and friends I may never have found were open to me from the first day. At Massey University, I thank Professors Peter Beatson, Catherine Bray, Jennifer Coleman, Ephra Garrett, and Paul Perry as well as staff members Heather Hodgetts and Mary Roberts. Among the students who shared their thoughts, good food, and late nights I thank Brian, Chamsy, Jonathan, Kirsty, Lincoln, and Ruth. At the National Gay and Lesbian Archives of New Zealand I thank Linda Evans and Glenda Gale for their direction. At Rutgers, I thank Professors Judith Gerson, Jack Harris, Angelique Haugerud, Uli Linke, Leslie McCall, Meredith Turshen, and my committee members Louisa Schein (chair), Dorothy Hodgson and Laura Ahearn. Dorothy, Louisa and Laura have been allies and mentors, challenging me to stretch and encouraging me to question. I appreciate them as colleagues and friends. Outside committee members Esther Newton and Michèle Dominy have also supported my work, professionally as well as in relation to this dissertation. For the discussion and intellectual community, I thank Ray Allen, Deb Curtis, Tracey Dye, Julie Gricar, Wahneema Lubiano, Rob Marlin, Sherry McBride, Megan McCullough, Julie Pokrandt, Tara Remmington, Kim Shively, Wendy Weisman, Paige West, and my partner Martha Gonzalez. Within the University I have been fortunate to receive the help and good humor of Dorothy Amorosi, Alex Bachman, Janet Bascom, Barbara Bender, Penny Burgess, Cheryl Clarke, Teresa Delcorso, Beth Hutchison, David Pickens, Barbara Pleva, Linda Quaglieri, Vicki Rimes, Linda Schulz and Barbara Sirman. For the coffee klatches and lunches that kept me going, I thank: Cynthia Ferrell, Elyse Kantrowitz, Jen Koplitz, Helen Maynard, Eleanor Peterson, Sharice Richards and Dana Rudolph. For the inspiration, Alana, Jordan and Linea. I would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Fulbright – IIE Program, the Leonard Etz Memorial Foundation, The Coconuthead Foundation and the Rohrs Family Trust. In Princeton, I am grateful for the familial, financial and professional support of The Hillier Group; especially Tara Cassidy, Sharon Dunham, Donna Farrell, J. Robert Hillier, Dr. James Hillier, Greg Moten, Joe Williams, and with a special nod, Barbara Hillier, for understanding the value of loving what you do. To Laurie Alexander and Sarah Rohrs, I thank you for the years of enriching friendship, the editing, the email lifelines and the sandwich from Zingerman’s Deli. To Evie Blackwood, Deb Elliston, Bill Leap, Ellen Lewin and Esther Newton, I thank you for the mentorship and encouragement, the belief and opportunities. I must also extend thanks to the Princeton Marketfair Barnes and Noble for their kindness and generosity. For more than a year, they allowed me to recreate their café as my writing room. I thank them all for the wonderful support and coffee, with particular mention to Ann Marie, Dan, Debi, James, Jes, Jill, Olga, Scott, Tom, and my partners in crime Daria and Mary Ellen. I am grateful for the earlier works of Peggy Golde, Zora Neale Hurston, Phillis Kaberry, Margaret Mead, Esther Newton, and Elsie Parsons, all of whom created a path on which I could follow and build. This list is as foundational as it is partial. A dissertation, like any other journey, is the culmination of many snapshots. These are mine. I thank my dad for wanting to teach me that girls could do anything. I thank Marjorie DeStefano for teaching me to read when the schools could not. I thank Emanuel and Sol Kapelsohn for teaching me to appreciate the value of working with my hands as well as my mind. I thank Rachel Etz Webster for her unconditional belief, support and as one of her friends once said, for “the intergalactic connectivity that enables her to foresee the moment and on occasion, to summon it.” To Joshua Weiner – your words when you received your doctorate in 1999 have kept me grounded: it was a silly thing to do. Special thanks to Dorothy Baum who had the great inspiration to suggest I try anthropology my first year of college, to Clifford Geertz for excepting my lunch invitation and to Rhoda Metraúx and Deborah Gewertz who offered friendship as well as advice – may I one day return the favor. Nancy McDowell became both mentor and friend while I was in college. Nancy has shown me the importance of humor and curiosity in all things worth pursuing and introduced me to my first ever black bear in the wild. She has shown a compassion and strength of will that humble me. My partner and beshiert, Martha Gonzalez, has supported my aspirations, nurtured my bruises and shared with me a partnership that inspires. Her footsteps can be found on many of these pages, her laughter scattered among the words. Her everyday continues to teach me about the kind of scholar and person I want to become. I thank her for the richness she has added to my life. She’s serious and silly and above all, my best friend. When I wanted to be a wood worker, my mother bought me tools. When I wanted to learn to climb mountains, she sent me out for instruction. When I wanted to be a doctor, she gave me Gray’s Anatomy and found me a Doctor to shadow. I was fascinated by nature and she sent me to the Galapagos Islands.
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