SYLLABUS ANTH 5900.713 SPECIAL PROBLEMS QUEER ANTHROPOLOGY AND ACTIVISM SPRING 2018 Professor: Dr. Jara Carrington Email: [email protected] Voice/Text: 346-201-2888 Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00-3:30, Thursdays 10:30-12, or by appointment Office: Chilton Hall 308C Class meetings: TBD Course Description: This guided readings course will help you, as an anthropologist, to think more “Queerly” about the construction and reproduction of sexual norms, identities, and subjects in the United States, and to consider how these norms, identities, and subject positions have influenced advocacy efforts for LGBTQ-identified individuals and communities. Like much of cultural anthropology, Queer anthropological theory and practice is by nature interdisciplinary. We will cover influential texts from a range of disciplines to understand how these ideas have helped shape the development and trajectory of queer anthropology. This collection of readings will also highlight the intersections of, and contradictions between, queer theoretical perspectives and ethnography. We will begin by tracing the development of queer anthropology as a subfield of anthropological theory and practice. Readings will elaborate a variety of frames that have been used to study sexuality as an object of analysis, and will reveal influential debates and contentions about its study. Next, we will examine foundational texts that interrogate how sexual norms, identities, and subject positions have been discursively produced in the west. To conclude, we will focus on Queer analyses of activism in the United States to understand how LGBTQ-identified individuals, communities, and activists have worked to navigate, and sometimes contest, processes of state recognition. Course Objectives: 1. Become familiar with the history of the study of sexuality in anthropology 2. Become familiar with basic concepts of Queer theory, especially as they are used in anthropology 3. Critically analyze the relationship between LGBTQ-identified individuals, economics, and politics in the United States 4. Critically analyze contemporary (mainstream) LGBT activisms in the United States Course Readings: There are four required book length texts included on this list: Gould, Deborah. 2009. Moving Politics: Emotion and Act Up’s Fight Against AIDS. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1 Jagose, Annamarie. 1996. Queer Theory: An Introduction. New York: New York University Press. Vaid, Urvashi. 1995. Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation. New York: Doubleday. Ward, Jane. 2008. Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in LGBT Activist Organizations. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. Gould, Vaid, and Ward are available either as hard copy or electronic form through the UNT library. Jagose should be accessible through Interlibrary Loan (ILL)-- if you are not able to get a copy in time, I have a personal copy you can borrow. If you wish to purchase these items, you can find them at various online retailers. All articles/chapters should be available through the UNT library in e-journal or book form, and many are available as PDF files for free downloads online. If the library does not have a particular journal or book, you can also use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to access readings/sources. However, this process may take time, so you will want to do this in advance as much as possible. If you have difficulties finding a particular reading, please let me know and we will work together to make sure you are able to get a copy. WEEKLY SCHEDULE Part I: What is “Queer Anthropology”? Week 1: 1/15- 1/21 Weston- Lesbian/Gay Studies in the House of Anthropology Boellstorff- Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology Week 2: 1/22- 1/28 Jagose- Queer Theory: An Introduction Week 3: 1/29- 2/4 Esther Newton- Mother Camp – Ch. 3 “Types of Acts” Eng, Halberstam, and Muñoz “What’s Queer about Queer Studies Now?” Cultural Anthropology 2016 Issue 31.4 Openings and Retrospectives section on Queer Anthropology. Note: There are 5 articles but they are each very short. Can access links to the articles (see lower right hand side of page) here: https://culanth.org/issues/177- 31-4-november-2016 Part II: Constructing SeXual Norms, Identities, and Subjects in the West Week 4: 2/5- 2/11 Foucault- Selections from The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, pgs. 1-35, 51-74 Rubin- The Traffic in Women Week 5: 2/11- 2/18 Sedgwick- Epistemology of the Closet Alexander- Not Just (Any) Body can be a Citizen Week 6: 2/19- 2/25 2 D’Emilio- Capitalism and Gay Identity Rubin- Thinking Sex Warner- Introduction, Fear of a Queer Planet (vii- xxxi) Week 7: 2/26-3/4 Rand- Getting Dressed Up: The Displays of Frank Woodhull and the Policing of Gender (Ellis Island Snow Globe; 67-106) Luibhéid- Looking Like a Lesbian (Entry Denied; 77-102) Canaday- Who is a Homosexual? Part III: Queer(ing) Activism Week 8: 3/5- 3/11 Seidman- Identity and Politics in a “Postmodern” Gay Culture: Some Historical and Conceptual Notes. Cohen- Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics Spade- What’s Wrong with Rights? Week 9: 3/12- 3/18- SPRING BREAK Week 10: 3/19- 3/25 Vaid- Virtual EQuality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation Week 11: 3/26- 4/1 Duggan- The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism Weiss- Gay Shame and BDSM Pride Manalansan- In the Shadow of Stonewall Week 12: 4/2- 4/8 (SFAAs) First half of Gould- Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP’s Fight Against AIDS Week 13: 4/9- 4/15 Finish Gould- Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP’s Fight Against AIDS Week 14: 4/16- 4/22 Beam- At the Limits of “By and For”: Space, Struggle, and the Nonprofitization of Queer Youth Spade and Willse- Confronting the Limits of Gay Hate Crimes Activism: A Radical CritiQue Spade and Willse- Marriage Will Never Set Us Free Week 15: 4/23- 4/29 First half of Jane Ward- Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in LGBT Activist Organizations Week 16: 4/30- 5/3 (Last day of classes; 5/2-5/3 considered pre-finals days, no new info) Finish Jane Ward- Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in LGBT Activist Organizations 3 References: Various authors: Cultural Anthropology 2016 Issue 31.4 Openings and Retrospectives section on Queer Anthropology. https://culanth.org/issues/177-31-4-november-2016 Against EQuality: Queer CritiQues of Gay Marriage, edited by Ryan Conrad. Lewiston, ME. Against EQuality Publishing Collective. Alexander, M. JacQui. 1994. “Not Just (Any) Body Can Be a Citizen: The Politics of Law, Sexuality, and Postcoloniality in Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas.” Feminist Review 48:5-23. Beam, Myrl. 2016. At the Limits of “By and For”: Space, Struggle, and the Nonprofitization of Queer Youth. Scholar and Feminist Online 13(2). Boellstorff, Tom “Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology” Annual Review of Anthropology 36: 17-35. Canaday, Margot. 2003. Who is a Homosexual? The Consolidation of Sexual Identities in Mid-twentieth-century Immigration Law, 1952-1983. Law and Social Inquiry, 28: 351-386. Cohen, Cathy. 1997. Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics. GLQ 3:437-465. D’Emilio, John. 1993. Capitalism and Gay Identity in The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader edited by Abelove, Henry, Michele Aina Barale, and David M. Halperin. New York: Routledge. Duggan, Lisa. 2002. “The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism.” In Materializing Democracy: Toward a Revitalized Cultural Politics edited by Dana D. Nelson and Russ Castronovo. Durham: Duke University Press. Eng, David L, Jack Halberstam, Jose Esteban Muñoz. 2005. What’s Queer About Queer Studies Now? Social Text 23(3-4): 1-17. Foucault, Michel. 1978. The History of Sexuality, Volume I. Random House Inc. New York, NY. Gould, Deborah. 2009. Moving Politics: Emotion and Act Up’s Fight Against AIDS. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Jagose, Annamarie. 1996. Queer Theory: An Introduction. New York: New York University Press. Luibhéid, Eithne. 2002. Looking Like a Lesbian; Sexual Monitoring at the U.S.-Mexico Border. In Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 4 Manalansan, Martin. 1995. In the Shadows of Stonewall: Examining Gay Transnational Politics and the Diasporic Dilemma. GLQ 2(4): 425-438. Newton, Esther. 1972(1979). “Types of Acts.” Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Rand, Erica. 2005. Getting Dressed Up: The Displays of Frank Woodhull and the Policing of Gender. The Ellis Island Snow Globe. Raleigh: Duke University Press. Rubin, Gayle. 1975. “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex.” In Toward an Anthropology of Women edited by Rayna Reiter, 157-210. New York: Monthly Press Review. ----- 1992. Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality. In Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality, edited by Carol Vance. London: Pandora Books. Sedgewick, Eve. 1990. Introduction: Axiomatic. The Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley: University of California Press. Seidman, Steven. Identity and Politics in a “Postmodern” Gay Culture: Some Historical and Conceptual Notes. 1993. In Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory, edited by Michael Warner. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Spade, Dean 2011. What’s Wrong with Rights? Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law. Brooklyn: South End Press. Spade, Dean and Craig Willse. 2013. Marriage will Never Set Us Free. http://www.organizingupgrade.com/index.php/modules-menu/beyond- capitalism/item/1002-marriage-will-never-set-us-free ----- 2000. Confronting the Limits of Gay Hate Crimes Activism: A Radical CritiQue. Chicano- Latino Law Review. 21(1): 38-52. Vaid, Urvashi. 1995. Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation. New York: Doubleday. Ward, Jane. 2008. Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in LGBT Activist Organizations.