City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 5-2018 Brother Outsider: Queered Belonging and Kinships in African American Men’s Literature, 1953-1971 Debarati Biswas The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2612 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] BROTHER OUTSIDER: QUEERED BELONGING AND KINSHIPS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN’S LITERATURE, 1953-1971 by DEBARATI BISWAS A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2018 Biswas ii © 2018 DEBARATI BISWAS All Rights Reserved Biswas iii Brother Outsider: Queered Belonging and Kinships in African American Men’s Literature, 1953-1971 by Debarati Biswas This manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in English in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Robert F. Reid-Pharr Chair of Examining Committee Date Eric Lott Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Robert F. Reid-Pharr Ammiel Alcalay Peter Hitchcock THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Biswas iv ABSTRACT Brother Outsider: Queered Belonging and Kinships in African American Men’s Literature, 1953-1971 By Debarati Biswas Adviser: Robert Reid-Pharr Brother Outsider: Queered Belonging and Kinships in African American Men’s Literature, 1953-1971 builds on the work of women-of-color feminists since the late 1960s and queer-of-color critique in the works of José Esteban Muñoz, Robert Reid-Pharr, Roderic Ferguson, and Nadia Ellis, in order to chronicle the emergence of a queer tradition in mid twentieth century African American men’s literature.