Global Queer Performance

Wed 12-220pm, Lyman 212 TAPS 1420 SO1

Prof. Eng-Beng Lim Lyman 010 Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thur 2:30-3:30

What is queer performance from a global perspective? Within the U.S., this might refer to theater, visual and sonic practices, or styles of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender writ large. In the world outside the U.S., such an identitarian narrative has gained some traction through the discourse of global queering, which renders an understanding of same-sex formations through Pride Parades, pink-dollar tourism, gay marriage and Western-LGBT cultures. There is, however, much debate as to what queer means, and how it translates. This course uses queer performance to consider how we might understand sexual minorities in the U.S. and the world.

All readings posted on OCRA/Canvas.

Assignments

1. Class Presentations (10 points) You’ll each sign up to give two small presentations. One is a 10 minute-presentation on a syllabus text of your choice. Introduce the text’s main ideas, talk about its interventions, say what worked particularly well for you, say what haunts or confuses, etc. The other is a 10-minute presentation of any artist on spotlight for that particular week. Use the artist to exemplify the ideas covered for the week. For both presentations, end with questions in a self-chosen role (critic, artist, spectator, blogger, director, writer, outlaw etc) to get our class discussion going.

2. Response Papers (25 points – 5 points for each written work) Either: Write 5 response papers, which you can stagger throughout the semester on the week’s readings. Each paper will be no more than 2 pages, and have to be posted on Canvas a day before or after the class. Summarize the main ideas and arguments, and present a quick but thoughtful engagement at the end of your entry. Or Pick any five artists/perfomers from the list below, and write a Wiki or blog-style entry for each one of them on our course Canvas. The more creative you are with this the better! Imagine writing for the sake of making a queer archive for the public who is unfamiliar with this genre.

3. Participation & Homework (25%) This just means coming to class prepared and contributing to class discussion. You will formulate one question each week based on the readings, and may be asked to do an additional, small assignment. That’s about two points or so for every class you show up and do your work.

4. Midterm (20%) You will write a queer performance analysis or history of any one of the following artists/performer/collective:

Félix González-Torres, Pussy Riot, Nguyễn Tân Hoàng, Marga Gomez, Sylvester, Vaginal Davis, Kalup Linzy, Dynasty Handbag, My Barbarian, Nao Bustamante, Carmelita Tropicana, Split Britches, Dzi Croquetes, Las Krudas, Adrian Stimson, Kent Monkman, Yasumasa Morimura, Kumbia Queers, Valerie Solanas, Taylor Mac, Hot Peaches, John Waters, Jesusa Rodriguez, Liliana Felipe, Kumar, Wonder Gay (Kathoey), Reza Abdol, E Patrick Johnson, Antony and the Johnstons, Pink Dot, Sayoni, IndigNation, Tina Takemoto, Queer Nation, Ernesto Pujol, Pan Pan (Pangina Heals) Narkprasert, Phnom Penh Pussycat Dolls, Shu Lea Cheang, Wu Tsang, Khmera Rouge, Ming Wong, Del Lagrace Volcano, David Wojnarowics, Alfian Sa’at, Pomo Afro Homos, Wu Tsang, Li Yuchun, David Wojnarowicz, Toshio Matsumoto, Thunkska, Becca D Bus., JJ Chinois, Marlon Riggs, Kandia Crazyhorse, Medusa, Le1f, Angel Haze, Imani Uzuri, Tim’m T.West, Brandon Lacey Campos, Stacey Ann Chin, Reggie Cabico, Karen Jaime, Emmanuel Xavier, Annie Sprinkle, Viet Le.

Part of the challenge here is gathering materials to study not just performance, an ephemeral encounter, but to find the artist/performer/collective who is under the radar precisely because of his/her/hir queerness, especially one in a non-U.S. location (U.S.-based performers included above). Find the performer you contact with in some way, and view his/her/hir show in person, or in any media (youtube, vimeo etc). Try contacting the artist/performer directly or see librarians for research support. You are also encouraged to chat with me to get a bit more information about the names on the list during my office hours. Plan ahead and be resourceful! Submit your 7-8 page essay with proper citations by 16 Oct, 1159p.m. on Canvas.

5. Final Project and Paper-Portfolio (20%)

You have full creative and scholarly license to recreate by adapting or re-enacting an excerpt of a show by the performer/artist/collective you have been working on that is no more than 15mins. This will be followed by a 10 min oral defense. We will potentially produce this as an open show (nothing elaborate) so you can invite your friends and other teachers. This can be a live solo performance, group work of up to four people, a video, an art installation or anything you can dream up. It could also take the form of a more traditional scholarly response, a script, a website, a manifesto etc but you would still have to “stage” it in some way, such as a performative lecture. Whatever you choose to do, it has to demonstrate your grasp on what’s queer/global/performance. The portfolio you will submit is a compilation of everything you have written in the class, which you will immaculately organize into one document, revised where necessary, in any design or format. You will include an additional 2 or 3-page statement essay as a preface to your portfolio, describing how you got to your project, what your stakes were, your overall experience in the class, and how you envision a queer future.

Grade scale: 90-100 (A); 80-89 (B); 70-79 (C); 0-69 (NC). (Plagiarism gets you an automatic NC, and a trip to the Dean’s office for disciplinary action. As is clear, 0% for no work submitted. You get two excused absences, which means you get clearance from me at least twenty fours hours before and not after the fact unless it is a medical emergency. Your third absence from class gets you 8 point deduction from your overall grade, and 8 points thereafter for every class missed.)

My expectations for you: To be open-minded & queer, mindful of each other’s space and safety while working as one supportive, thinking collective. Respect and learn from difference.

Schedule

Sep 4 Introduction

Sep 11 Base Terms Lisa Lowe, “Globalization,” S.Somerville, “Queer,” Rod Ferguson, “Race”, Halberstam “Gender” Cathy Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens” Munoz, “Performing Disidentifications” and ““‘The White to Be angry’: Vaginal Crème Davis’s Terrorist Drag” Cole, “Tarheels and Transfags” http://www.beyondmasculinity.com/articles/cole.php

Homework: Break down how Munoz accounts for Marga’s and Davis’s performance, and explain what he means by “disidentification.”

Artists on spotlight: Vaginal Davis, Marga Gomez

Optional and helpful with other basic terminology: Weber, “A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality.”

Sep 18 American Queer Theory & Its Other Eng, Halberstam, Munoz, “What’s Queer about Queer Studies Now” Coelho, “When the Global and Local Collide: Gay Identity in Brazil and South Africa according to Parker and Reid” Martin Manalansan, “Speaking in Transit: Queer Language and Translated Lives” Sa’at, Asian Boys Vol 1 (Play) Lim, “Glocalqueering”

Artist on spotlight: Kumbia Queers, Dzi Croquetes, Alfian Sa’at

Sep 25 The Uses of Queer Berlant and Warner, “What does Queer Theory Teach Us about X” 343-349 Michael Hames Garcia, “Queer Theory Revisited” Audre Lorde,“The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action Lisa Duggan, “Queering the State” Lorde, Uses of the Erotic, the Erotic as Power. Fierstein, “Russia’s Anti-Gay Crackdown.”

Artist on spotlight: Queer Nation, Nao Bustamante, Pussy Riot.

Oct 2 Regimes and Queer Responses Harper, McClintock, Muñoz, and Rosen, “Queer Transexions of Race, Nation, and Gender,” (1997) Gloria Anzaldúa, from Borderlands/La Frontera Halberstam, “Low theory” Warner, “Queer and Now” Cherríe Moraga, “Preface, 1981” from This Bridge Called My Back Moraga and Anzaldúa, “Introduction, 1981” from This Bridge Called My Back

Collective on Spotlight: Sayoni, IndigNation,

Oct 9 Trans-Fabulosity Del Lagrace Volcano and Judith Halberstam, “What is a Drag King,” pgs 32-59 MilDred Diyaa Gerestant, “Exposures of a Multispirited Haitian–American, Gender-Harmonizing Woman, 30-43, Watch Venuzboys Shaw, “How I Learned Theater” Jennifer Robertson, Takarazuka : sexual politics and popular culture in modern Japan “Introduction,” pgs 1-25 Watch Dream Girls.

Group on Spotlight: Takarazuka, Li Yuchun/Chris Lee, Peggy Shaw

Recommended to supplement basic terminology: “Drag King: Camp Acts, Queer Bodies, Desiring Audiences” by Genevieve Berrick.

Oct 16 Paper Due. Class Workshop – possible artist visit (TBA) E. Patrick Johnson and Mae Henderson, “Introduction: Black Queer Studies” Johnson, Sweet Tea (excerpts) Roman & Hughes, O Solo Homo (excerpts) Eng and Hom, “Introduction to Q&A: Queer in Asian America.” Viet Le, Pop Tarts (Photographic Portfolio)

Artists on Spotlight: Kumar, Pan Pan (Pangina Heals) Narkprasert

Oct 23 Camp Sontag, Notes on Camp. Pellegrini, “After Sontag: Future Notes on Camp,” A Companion to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies, ed. George E. Haggerty and Molly McGarry (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007): 166-91. Case, “Toward a Butch-Feminist Retro-Future.” Newton, “Role Models” Myers, “Introduction” to The Politics and Poetics of Camp Watch Mommie Dearest (film) & various clips.

Artists on Spotlight: Dynasty Handbag, Carmelita Tropicana

Oct 30 Aberrations, Ridiculosities, S/M Gayle Rubin, “The Catacombs: A Temple of the Butthole” Warner, “Scummy Acts: Valerie Solana’s Theatre of the Ludicrous” Boone, “Vacation Cruises, or The Homoerotics of Orientalism” Chin, Attack of the Man-eating Lotus Blossom (excerpts) Schneebaum, “Lust in the Mysterious East”

Nov 6 Gay Equality Inc.: Against Homonormativity & Colonial Sodomy Statuettes Duggan, Introduction and Chapter 3 Massad, Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World. Ho, Introduction 1-13, and “Blame it on the Bogey: The Christian Right’s Construction of Homosexuality and the AWARE CSE Programme, 74-95. Foucault, “Society Must Be Defended.” Goldberg, “The Uganda Anti-Gay Bill’s U.S. Roots.” Group on Spotlight: Against Equality, Pink Dot

Nov 13 Activist Blogosphere-Performance Juana Maria Rodriguez, “Welcome to the Global Stage: Confessions of a Latina Cyber Slut” Read any five articles from the following: Audre Lorde Project Bully Bloggers FIERCE Gay Shame INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence Queers for Economic Justice Sylvia Rivera Law Project

Nov 20 Presentations

Nov 27 THANKSGIVING

Dec 4 Presentations