DOCSLIB.ORG

Environmental Activism and Literary Non-Fiction

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Environmental Activism and Literary Non-Fiction A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/79823 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications 1 Activism Ltd – Environmental Activism and Contemporary Literature Christopher James Maughan A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature University of Warwick, Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies June 2015 2 Contents Activism Ltd – Environmental Activism and Contemporary Literature ......................................... 1 Contents 2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 4 Abstract 5 Introduction 7 1: ‘ONE AND INDIVISIBLE, A SEAMLESS WEB’ – Historicising Climate Change ................. 12 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 12 Marxism and Ecocriticism ..................................................................................................... 19 The ‘political unconscious’ ................................................................................................... 21 Ecocriticism and the ‘political unconscious’ ....................................................................... 25 1.1: Maggie Gee - The Flood (2004) ...................................................................................... 30 The Political Unconscious I: The Political Horizon ........................................................... 30 The Political Unconscious II: The Social Horizon ............................................................. 33 The Political Unconscious III: The Historical Horizon ...................................................... 37 Resolution and Conclusions ................................................................................................ 45 1.2: Ian McEwan - Solar (2010)............................................................................................... 49 The Political Unconscious I: The Political Horizon ........................................................... 53 The Political Unconscious II: The Social Horizon ............................................................. 57 The Political Unconscious III: The Historical Horizon ...................................................... 62 2: ACTIVISM LTD – Representations of Environmental Activism and Neoliberal Capture .... 73 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 73 Environmental activism in contemporary fiction and film................................................. 78 Environmental activism and the social sciences .............................................................. 84 2.1: Readings ............................................................................................................................. 98 2.1.1: T.C. Boyle - A Friend of the Earth (2000) ............................................................. 100 2.1.2: Jonathan Franzen - Freedom (2010) .................................................................... 131 3: HUNGER GAMES – Agroecology, Activism and the ‘Corporate Food Regime’ ................ 158 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 158 3.1: Corporatism and resistance in the new world (dis)order ........................................... 162 The agroecological movement .......................................................................................... 165 3.2: Michelle Cliff - No Telephone to Heaven (1987) ......................................................... 170 Restructuring and instability ............................................................................................... 172 3 ‘New spaces for practicing democracy’ ............................................................................ 180 Place ...................................................................................................................................... 186 3.3: Ruth Ozeki - All Over Creation (2003) .......................................................................... 195 Thesis-antithesis-synthesis, or, ‘reimagining community’ ............................................. 198 ‘Rhizomatic stories’? ........................................................................................................... 204 4: ACTIVIST REALISM – Environmental Activism and Literary Non-fiction............................ 219 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 219 The politics of literary non-fiction ....................................................................................... 221 Literary non-fiction and environmental crisis ................................................................... 228 4.1 Chris Hedges & Joe Sacco - Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012) .............. 236 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 236 The re-imagining of ‘slow violence’ ................................................................................... 239 Community and resistance ................................................................................................. 248 ‘... and the environmentalism of the poor’ ........................................................................ 254 The activist aesthetic........................................................................................................... 261 4.2 Bill McKibben - Oil and Honey (2013) ........................................................................... 267 Literary status ....................................................................................................................... 268 Narrative ................................................................................................................................ 271 Genre ..................................................................................................................................... 274 Aesthetics I – SF .................................................................................................................. 280 Aesthetics II – ‘becoming’ ................................................................................................... 283 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 289 Works Cited 291 4 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without a great deal of love and support. Firstly, my supervisor, Graeme Macdonald, who has, with remarkable patience and encouragement, read and re-read so many of my faltering words, even during periods of severe illness. Many fellow students, too, across the past four years, have enriched my personal and intellectual life with conversation, support and courageous action. Of particular note, are Vishal Chauhan, Hanna Wheatley, Stephen Barrell, Alix Villanueva, Connor Schwartz, Dexter Bushell, Robert King, and especially Rhys Williams. And to my partner, Alice, whose energy, love and tenderness has seen me through so many periods of uncertainty and doubt. Above all, I thank my parents, without whom I would not have got here at all, especially my Dad, who has tirelessly supported me every step of the way with advice, love, and cricket updates. 5 Abstract This thesis examines representations of environmental activism in contemporary literature. In general terms, this thesis understands activism to be a mode of politics that seeks to transform society, counter to forces of oppression and crisis. Precisely as a transformative or counter-hegemonic mode of politics, the actions, public perceptions, and representations (literary or otherwise) of activism and social movements mark out an extreme – though rarely understood – horizon of political agency and possibility. The thesis uses and adapts Fredric Jameson’s theory of the political unconscious to explore, via literary representation, the prospects, constraints, and capacities which exist in contemporary forms of environmental activism. It begins by considering novelistic representations of climate change that display a tension between ‘fast-violent’ and gradual or historically-embedded forms of environmental change. The thesis then moves on to consider novelistic fiction that displays evidence of the intertwining of environmental crises and neoliberal governmentalities. A later chapter turns to a more specific site of resistance – food production – examining novelistic fiction that not only thematises the emergence of particular forms of resistance, but also aesthetically and formally registers agroecological theory and practice. The final chapter moves away from fictive writing and investigates the ways in which literary non-fiction presents a new kind
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Am Lit 1945-Present List
    Renee Hudson American Literature 1945-Present (Ngai) Primary Texts: 1. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (1947) 2. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith (1950) 3. The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1953) 4. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor (1955) 5. Howl by Allen Ginsberg (1956) 6. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961) 7. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (1962) 8. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962) 9. Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara (1964) 10. Ariel by Sylvia Plath (1965) 11. Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed (1972) 12. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973) 13. Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow (1975) 14. Meridian by Alice Walker (1976) 15. Buried Child by Sam Shepard (1978) 16. Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme (1982) 17. Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1982) 18. Great Expectations by Kathy Acker (1983) 19. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985) 20. White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985) 21. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987) 22. The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker (1990) 23. Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros (1991) 24. Patchwork Girl by Shelley Jackson (1995) 25. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (1996) 26. Tropic of Orange by Karen Tei Yamashita (1997) 27. American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1997) 28. Palestine by Joe Sacco (2001) 29. Pattern Recognition by William Gibson (2003) 30. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007) Renee Hudson Secondary Texts: 1. The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord (1973) 2.
    [Show full text]
  • COMPARATIVE LITERATURE (Div
    COMPARATIVE LITERATURE (Div. I) Chair, Associate Professor CHRISTOPHER NUGENT Professors: BELL-VILLADA, CASSIDAY, DRUXES, S. FOX, FRENCH, KAGAYA**, NEWMAN***, ROUHI, VAN DE STADT. Associate Professors: C. BOLTON***, DEKEL, S. FOX, HOLZAPFEL, MARTIN, NUGENT, PIEPRZAK***, THORNE, WANG**. Assistant Professors: BRAGGS*, VARGAS. Visiting Assistant Professor: EQEIQ. Students motivated by a desire to study literary art in the broadest sense of the term will find an intellectual home in the Program in Comparative Literature. The Program in Comparative Literature gives students the opportunity to develop their critical faculties through the analysis of literature across cultures, and through the exploration of literary and critical theory. By crossing national, linguistic, historical, and disciplinary boundaries, students of Comparative Literature learn to read texts for the ways they make meaning, the assumptions that underlie that meaning, and the aesthetic elements evinced in the making. Students of Comparative Literature are encouraged to examine the widest possible range of literary communication, including the metamorphosis of media, genres, forms, and themes. Whereas specific literature programs allow the student to trace the development of one literature in a particular culture over a period of time, Comparative Literature juxtaposes the writings of different cultures and epochs in a variety of ways. Because interpretive methods from other disciplines play a crucial role in investigating literature’s larger context, the Program offers courses intended for students in all divisions of the college and of all interests. These include courses that introduce students to the comparative study of world literature and courses designed to enhance any foreign language major in the Williams curriculum. In addition, the Program offers courses in literary theory that illuminate the study of texts of all sorts.
    [Show full text]
  • NLA Newsleather November 2020
    Issue 5: November 2020 NewsLeather Leather: It’s who you are, not what you wear NLA-Dallas is about Education * Activism * Community A Review of BV Online Attendees at Beyond Vanilla Online on October 3, 2020, were treated to a smorgasbord of kinky information and fun conversation. A couple of classes had wow moments that got us excited and ready for more. Master TC ended his Negotiation class with a demo that left us all reaching for our fans and praying to our gods the scene actually happens when we are nearby, and Doctor Bubbles and KitKat Ann’s look at Fear Play culminated with a surprise mini scene that clearly demonstrated the difference between surprise and suspense. Beginning our journey in exploring the gender spectrum, Maverick introduced us to some of their friends who showed us unequivocally that one’s parts do not always define one’s gender and that assumptions based on appearances can be way off base. Lee Harrington’s thought provoking exploration of Intentional Relationship Design was interwoven with his signature melange of spiritual appreciation and pragmatic application. Throughout the day, classes alternated with pre-recorded videos to keep the educational opportunities going. Butterscotch’s enthusiasm for tea service shined brightly as she walked us through her take on tea. Ursus’ demonstration of a bar shine gave us a glimpse into the world of the bootblacking, offering something for those interested in being a bootblack, as well as those who seek out their service. Fred illuminated the world of cigars and cigar service for attendees, information that was later put to good use at the post-event hybrid virtual and in-person Beyond Vanilla After Dark.
    [Show full text]
  • Considering Ethical Questions in (Non)Fiction: Reading and Writing About Graphic Novels
    e Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy Considering Ethical Questions in (Non)Fiction: Reading and Writing about Graphic Novels Gene McQuillan Kingsborough Community College /The City University of New York Brooklyn, NY, USA [email protected] ABSTRACT Teachers often feature graphic novels in college courses, and recent research notes how these texts can help make the process of reading more engaging as well as more complex. Graphic novels help enhance a variety of “literacies”; they offer bold representations of people dealing with trauma or marginalization; they explore how “texts” can be re-invented; they exemplify how verbal and visual texts are often adapted; they are ideal primers for introducing basic concepts of “post-modernism.” However, two recurring textual complications in graphic novels can pose difficulties for students who are writing about ethical questions. First, graphic novels often present crucial scenes by relying heavily on the use of verbal silence (or near silence) while emphasizing visual images; second, the deeper ethical dimensions of such scenes are suggested rather than discussed through narration or dialogue. This article will explain some of the challenges and options for writing about graphic novels and ethics. Keywords: Graphic novels; ethics; literacies; Art Spiegelman; Maus; Alison Bechdel; Fun Home 38 Volume 5, Issue 1 Considering Ethical Questions in (Non)Fiction I am committed to using graphic novels in my English courses. This commitment can be a heavy one- -in my case, it sometimes weighs about 40 pounds. If one stopped by my Introduction to Literature course at Kingsborough Community College (the City University of New York), one could see exactly what I mean.
    [Show full text]
  • Comics As a Medium Dor Inquiry: Urban Students (Re-)Designing Critical Social Worlds
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2015 Comics as a Medium dor Inquiry: Urban Students (Re-)Designing Critical Social Worlds David Eric Low University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Low, David Eric, "Comics as a Medium dor Inquiry: Urban Students (Re-)Designing Critical Social Worlds" (2015). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1090. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1090 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1090 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Comics as a Medium dor Inquiry: Urban Students (Re-)Designing Critical Social Worlds Abstract Literacy scholars have argued that curricular remediation marginalizes the dynamic meaning-making practices of urban youth and ignores contemporary definitions of literacy as multimodal, socially situated, and tied to people's identities as members of cultural communities. For this reason, it is imperative that school-based literacy research unsettle status quos by foregrounding the sophisticated practices that urban students enact as a result, and in spite of, the marginalization they manage in educational settings. A hopeful site for honoring the knowledge of urban students is the nexus of alternative learning spaces that have taken on increased significance in ouths'y lives. Many of these spaces focus on young people's engagements with new literacies, multimodalities, the arts, and popular media, taking the stance that students' interests are inherently intellectual. The Cabrini Comics Inquiry Community (CCIC), located in a K-8 Catholic school in South Philadelphia, is one such space.
    [Show full text]
  • Camp Chemistry
    Camp Chemistry concocts a petri dish of open, positive, progressive lifestyles; a pleasureable potion of lectures, workshops, and events that encourages a paradigm shift in modern relationships and human sexuality serving our mission of Illuminated Eroticism. Our experiments will take place in two uniquely different locations: The Chemistry Lab, located poolside on the second floor, is a sensual playground and party space. Chemistry Lab-yrinth – a lush secluded event space located at Camp Chemistry, near the Ramblewood Labyrinth south of cabins M-R. 4-5pm | Smooching 101 with CJ, in a way that is ultimately stultifying for Chemistry Schedule Sly & the Smoochdome Crew most people. Sexless marriages, affairs, For pairs who want some fresh practice, or and the high divorce rate all reflect the those looking for more kissy techniques, unsustainability of monogamy as it is IN THE CHEMISTRY LAB-YRINTH: this vintage Smoochdome experience is for commonly understood and practiced. you! Please come with a partner. This is a The Tantric model of relating offers an Friday Paramahansa Satyananda Saraswati. The lips-on experience – gawkers will be asked alternative to the monogamous model, to leave. 10-11pm | BDSM on a Budget practices are very similar, but Ananda Nidra although modern practitioners can with Benjamin Jones focuses specifically on pleasure. Lie back come closest to the spirit of authentic Whips, chains, leather, steel, vinyl, rubber. and enjoy! Sunday Tantra in the context of a long-term BDSM is often focused on stuff. Stuff relationship. These perspectives may 11am-12pm | Ananda Nidra (“blissful costs money and a lot of these things are 12-2pm – Avoiding “Poly-Agony” | seem paradoxical at first, but it is possible General Polyamory & Open Relationship sleep”) w/ Mark A.
    [Show full text]
  • Bdsm, Kink, and Consent: What the Law Can Learn from Consent-Driven Communities
    BDSM, KINK, AND CONSENT: WHAT THE LAW CAN LEARN FROM CONSENT-DRIVEN COMMUNITIES Mika Galilee-Belfer* Millions of Americans participate in consensual, mutually agreed-upon activities such as bondage, dominance, and submission—collectively referred to as BDSM or kink—yet the relationship between individual consent to such participation and consent as legally understood and defined is imperfect at best. Because the law has not proven adept at adjudicating disputes that arise in BDSM situations, communities that practice BDSM have adopted self-policing mechanisms (formal and informal) aimed at replicating and even advancing the goals and protections of conventional law enforcement. This self-policing is particularly important because many jurisdictions hold there can be no consent to the kind of experiences often associated with BDSM; this is true in practice irrespective of the existence of statutory language regarding consent. In this Note, I compare legal communities and BDSM communities across three variables: how consent is defined, how violations are comparably adjudicated, and the types of remedies available by domain. In the process, I examine what norm-setting and rule adjudication look like when alternative communities choose to define, and then operate within, norms and controls that must be extra-legal by both necessity and design. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 508 I. CURRENT ISSUES AT THE INTERSECTION OF BDSM AND THE LAW ..................
    [Show full text]
  • A Coalition of Societies Devoted to the Study of American Authors 28 Annual Conference on American Literature May 25 – 28, 20
    American Literature Association A Coalition of Societies Devoted to the Study of American Authors 28th Annual Conference on American Literature May 25 – 28, 2017 The Westin Copley Place 10 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02116 Conference Director: Olivia Carr Edenfield Georgia Southern University American Literature Association A Coalition of Societies Devoted to the Study of American Authors 28th Annual Conference on American Literature May 25 – 28, 2017 Acknowledgements: The Conference Director, along with the Executive Board of the ALA, wishes to thank all of the society representatives and panelists for their contributions to the conference. Special appreciation to those good sports who good-heartedly agreed to chair sessions. The American Literature Association expresses its gratitude to Georgia Southern University and its Department of Literature and Philosophy for its consistent support. We are grateful to Rebecca Malott, Administrative Assistant for the Department of Literature and Philosophy at Georgia Southern University, for her patient assistance throughout the year. Particular thanks go once again to Georgia Southern University alumna Megan Flanery for her assistance with the program. We are indebted to Molly J. Donehoo, ALA Executive Assistant, for her wise council and careful oversight of countless details. The Association remains grateful for our webmaster, Rene H. Treviño, California State University, Long Beach, and thank him for his timely service. I speak for all attendees when I express my sincerest appreciation to Alfred Bendixen, Princeton University, Founder and Executive Director of the American Literature Association, for his 28 years of devoted service. We offer thanks as well to ALA Executive Coordinators James Nagel, University of Georgia, and Gloria Cronin, Brigham Young University.
    [Show full text]
  • Burma Chronicles and Guibert, Lefèvre, and Lemercier’S the Photographer
    Asian American Literature: Discourses and Pedagogies 5 (2014) 23-44. Graphic Self-Consciousness, Travel Narratives, and the Asian American Studies Classroom: Delisle’s Burma Chronicles and Guibert, Lefèvre, and Lemercier’s The Photographer By Monica Chiu As graphic narratives find solid purchase in the literary marketplace and in academia, students flock to related courses. I recently experienced this enthusiasm when I offered an upper-level Asian American graphic narratives course that filled beyond capacity, the first time this umbrella course for the field of Asian American studies had ever over enrolled in the fifteen years I had taught at my New England- based institution. In the course, students first grappled with comics terminology, introduced through Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and Thierry Groensteen’s The System of Comics. After this basic introduction to reading verbal-visual texts, we discussed those by and about Asian Americans: Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki’s Skim, Tofic El Rassi’s Arab in America, among others. These comics rely on recognizable (stereotypical) images of Asians and Asian Americans to expose accepted types and then to subvert or dismantle them. Students were most challenged by the autobiographical Burma Chronicles (2008) by Guy Delisle and The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders (2009), an artistic collaboration among Didier Lefèvre’s photographs, which served as an impetus for the text; Emmanuel Guibert’s comic art; and colorist Frédéric Lermercier’s book design. Delisle’s and Lefèvre’s travel narratives by non-Asian Americans about Southeast Asians (Burmese) and West Asians (Afghans) asked students to consider the self-representation of the comics’ Canadian and French protagonists, respectively, as they navigated foreign territories.
    [Show full text]
  • 12, 2017 Manchester, NH Table of Contents
    November 10 - 12, 2017 Manchester, NH Table of Contents Note from the Board 3 General Event Rules 4 Dress Code 6 Nighttime Party Rules 7 Security, Health, & Safety 8 Consent Policy 9 Film Screening 10 Photo Lounge 11 Friday Night Erotic Art Show 12 Presenter Bios 14 Vendors 19 Vendor Bingo 19 Maps 23 Friday Schedule 28 Friday Night Scavenger Hunt 28 Saturday Schedule 30 Sunday Schedule 32 Class Descriptions 34 SIGs and Lounges 51 About Our Sponsor 52 Lunch Options 52 About the Board 54 About the Staff 55 Thank Yous Back Cover Hungry? Boxed lunches may be purchased for Saturday and/or Sunday. Purchases must be made at the Registration Desk by 9:30am the day of. Lunches are $15 each and include: sandwich with lettuce (ham, turkey, or roast beef), chips, fruit, and desert. There is also a vegetarian box option. Looking for more options? See what’s in the area. https://goo.gl/LpWTuV -2- Note from the Board Welcome, and thank you for attending KinkyCon XI! KinkyCon is a grassroots, locally-focused event. Most of our presenters are from our own kinky community. Many of our vendors are folks you know, and they offer their wares at fair prices with exceptional quality, and local service. Our volunteers are from the local community, and give their time to make the Con run as smoothly as possible. They are the reason for the warm, welcoming feel throughout the weekend. We are here to make sure you have a great experience at KinkyCon. If you have any questions, concerns, or problems, please talk to one of the KinkyCon staff members right away.
    [Show full text]
  • American Book Awards 2004
    BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS 2004 America was intended to be a place where freedom from discrimination was the means by which equality was achieved. Today, American culture THE is the most diverse ever on the face of this earth. Recognizing literary excel- lence demands a panoramic perspective. A narrow view strictly to the mainstream ignores all the tributaries that feed it. American literature is AMERICAN not one tradition but all traditions. From those who have been here for thousands of years to the most recent immigrants, we are all contributing to American culture. We are all being translated into a new language. BOOK Everyone should know by now that Columbus did not “discover” America. Rather, we are all still discovering America—and we must continue to do AWARDS so. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. The goals of BCF are to provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. BCF has always employed the term “multicultural” not as a description of an aspect of American literature, but as a definition of all American litera- ture. BCF believes that the ingredients of America’s so-called “melting pot” are not only distinct, but integral to the unique constitution of American Culture—the whole comprises the parts. In 1978, the Board of Directors of BCF (authors, editors, and publishers representing the multicultural diversity of American Literature) decided that one of its programs should be a book award that would, for the first time, respect and honor excellence in American literature without restric- tion or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Habit of Being Kinky: Practice and Resistance
    IN THE HABIT OF BEING KINKY: PRACTICE AND RESISTANCE IN A BDSM COMMUNITY, TEXAS, USA By MISTY NICOLE LUMINAIS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Anthropology MAY 2012 © Copyright by MISTY NICOLE LUMINAIS, 2012 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by MISTY NICOLE LUMINAIS, 2012 All rights reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of MISTY NICOLE LUMINAIS find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ___________________________________ Nancy P. McKee, Ph.D., Chair ___________________________________ Jeffrey Ehrenreich, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Faith Lutze, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Jeannette Mageo, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could have not completed this work without the support of the Cactus kinky community, my advisors, steadfast friends, generous employers, and my family. Members of the kinky community welcomed me with all my quirks and were patient with my incessant questions. I will always value their strength and kindness. Members of the kinky community dared me to be fully present as a complete person rather than relying on just being a researcher. They stretched my imagination and did not let my theories go uncontested. Lively debates and embodied practices forced me to consider the many paths to truth. As every anthropologist before me, I have learned about both the universality and particularity of human experience. I am amazed. For the sake of confidentiality, I cannot mention specific people or groups, but I hope they know who they are and how much this has meant to me.
    [Show full text]