Queering US Public Mourning Rituals: Funerals, Performance, and the Construction Of
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Queering US Public Mourning Rituals: Funerals, Performance, and the Construction of Normativity by Michelle Renee Baron A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Performance Studies and the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Peter Glazer, Chair Professor Paola Bacchetta Professor Laura Pérez Professor Shannon Steen Fall 2011 1 Abstract Queering US Public Mourning Rituals: Funerals, Performance, and the Construction of Normativity by Michelle Renee Baron Doctor of Philosophy in Performance Studies Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality University of California, Berkeley Professor Peter Glazer, Chair The state uses public funeral practice and large-scale national mourning as an opportunity to affirm cultural and sexual norms as state values, as evidenced in state and military funerals. My dissertation, ―Queering U.S. Public Mourning Practice: Funerals, Performance, and the Construction of Normativity,‖ argues that funeral practice in fact exposes the precarity of traditional kinship and sexual practices while simultaneously constructing the heteronuclear family and heterosexuality as norms. I argue that public funerals appropriate practices and aesthetics coded as abject, socially excessive, and queer in order to demonstrate their distance from these national ―others.‖ My investigation divides loosely into two parts. I begin by juxtaposing the funerals of national heroes (Presidents Lincoln, Kennedy, and Reagan and fallen soldiers of the Iraq war) with the funerals and mourning practices of LGBT people and people of color within these sites. These first chapters propose a politics of visibility which calls attention to the relationship between the invisible and the hypervisible. In the second half of the dissertation, I turn to funeral and memorial practices already framed by difference: New York‘s African Burial Ground and the virtual altars devoted to the memory of Gloria Anzaldúa. With these two chapters I argue that the normative operates as a performative tool wielded to gain access and rights or as a foil to mourning practices that contest borders of memory and death. i Acknowledgements There is no way to begin this dissertation except with an expression of gratitude. Many individuals were instrumental in seeing this project through, and they deserve not only acknowledgement, but my sincere gratitude. The seeds of this project were first planted in a seminar at Brandeis University under the direction of Thomas King. He, Ryan McKittrick, and Arthur Holmberg encouraged me to pursue graduate level work; I would not be here without them. I‘m blessed to be working with an enthusiastic and supportive dissertation committee. Shannon Steen, Laura Pérez, and Paola Bacchetta have each provided instrumental encouragement and constructive criticism both through the exam process as well as with the development of this project. Peter Glazer, the chair of my dissertation, pushed my thinking when I needed it the most, and both the project and I are stronger for it. His attention to detail and encouragement have been invaluable. Mel Chen, Brandi Catanese, Shannon Jackson, and Shannon Steen, all oversaw my master‘s thesis, a project which was instrumental in building this dissertation. Their feedback has shaped my thinking, and I thank them for their time and efforts. Catherine Cole has been an unofficial mentor throughout the process of writing the dissertation, and her insights into the writing process and professional development, as well as personal support, have been essential. Of course the support and rigor of my colleges here in the department has fed me in numerous ways, and I am grateful for you all. The four fabulous women in my cohort, Nilgun Bayraktar, Kate Duffly, Charlotte McIvor, and Kate Kokontis deserve special recognition. You‘ve kept me grounded and smiling. Thank you to the theater, dance, and performance studies department‘s incredible staff, past and present: Mary Ajideh, Meghan LaBelle, Michael Mansfield, Grace Leach, Robin Davidson, and Marni Glovinski. They have ensured that not a paper was misplaced or misfiled, but I most appreciate their constant care for my personal sanity throughout the process. Thank you also to Althea Grannum-Cummings, for her administrative support in the department of gender and women‘s studies. The material in chapter three first came about as a seminar paper for Melinda Chen‘s graduate seminar ―Queer Translation‖ here at UC Berkeley in the fall of 2006. I couldn‘t have asked for a more incisive and generous peer group, and their feedback on the earliest iterations of this project was always thoughtful and encouraging. Two dissertation seminars in Gender and Women‘s Studies provided directed feedback on dissertation material. Juana Rodriguez, Barrie Thorne, and the enlightened women who comprised these seminars all richly deserve my thanks and acknowledgement. Jennifer Malkowski and Laura Horak are the best interdisciplinary writing group a scholar could want. I feel blessed to have been a part of it. Thanks for keeping me on track, and maintaining my perspective. Lastly, to my family: Jolie, Lou, Pam, and Matt; Nancy, Linda, and Ethan; my partner, Sherri. Without you, none of this would have been conceivable. I love you. This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my grandparents: Bill and Shola Ostrow, and Miguel and Maria Baron. 1 Chapter One Introduction Funerals in particular are so rich in revealing contradictions because they make publicly visible through symbolic action both the tangible existence of social boundaries and, at the same time, their shoddy construction out of inchoate otherness, and, consequently, their anxiety-inducing instability.1 My interest in the intersections of theater, queer theory, and funeral practice began with a simple observation: in the second half of the twentieth century, queer poets, novelists, filmmakers, and playwrights often invoked funerals within their work.2 The ―why‖ is perhaps obvious; national heteronormativity relegated homosexuality to the space of social death, through both legislative and custom-based practices.3 Although the precise origins of a homosexual rights movement and the emergence of a homosexual subject as political agent is debated, the emergence of the AIDS epidemic and the prevalence of early death within the queer community cemented the necessity of a political movement as sexuality became newly visible through the landscape of disease and death.4 At the same time that these political discourses emerged, queer theory as a viable academic (anti)discipline, emerging from feminism, postcolonial studies, and critical race theory, entered the landscape of critical theory, shifting the grounds from 1 Joseph Roach. Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996) pg 39. 2 For example, see Feinberg, Leslie Stone Butch Blues (Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books. 1993), Drag King Dreams (New York, NY: Carroll &Graf Publishers. 2006). Kaufman, Moises The Laramie Project (New York, NY: Vintage Books Press. 2001), Kushner, Tony. Angels in America (New York, NY: Theater Communications Group. 1995), PoMo Afro Homos Dark Fruit (in Staging Gay Lives, John M. Clum, ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 1996). If These Walls Could Talk II (Dir. Jane Anderson and Martha Coolidge. Perfs. Vanessa Redgrave, Chloe Sevigny, Ellen Degeneris. DVD. 2000). Queer Duck: Queer as Fowl (Dir. Mike Reiss. Animated. 1999). The L Word: Last Dance (Dir. Allison Anders. Perfs. Jennifer Beals, Erin Daniels. TV. 2006). The Children‟s Hour (Dir. William Wyler. Perfs. Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine. DVD. 1961.) For many more examples in context, see David Gere, How to Make Dances in an Epidemic: Tracking Choreography in the Age of AIDS. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004); David Román, Acts of Intervention: Performance, Gay Culture, and AIDS. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998). 3 I use social death as defined by Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982). 4 For differing accounts of the origins and implications of the LGBT rights movement, see: Barry D. Adam, The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement. (Boston: Twayne, 1987); Martin F. Manalansan IV, ―In the Shadows of Stonewall: Examining Gay Transnational Politics and the Diasporiac Dilemma.‖ (GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 1995 2(4):425-438); Vern L Bullough, Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context. (New York: Routledge, 2002); and Tommi Aricolli-Mecca, Smash the Church, Smash the State: the Early Years of Gay Liberation. (San Francisco, CA: City Lights Publishers, 2009). 2 which identity, cultural practice, and representation are discussed. Within queer theory, a turn towards death, dying, and mourning arose in order to grapple with the exponential losses of HIV and AIDS, to reinforce a political platform for social justice, and to create new strategies for both mourning and activism.5 Within and beyond the realm of the representational, funerals became sites of intersection for theory, activism, and art practice, and, at first, my research sought to bring these queer funeral practices to light. From this vantage point, the concept of the queer funeral is, at first, quite literal. Understanding queer as an identity category (an