Anthro 308b/508b and WGSS 308/701b

Queer Ethnographies

Prof. Karen Nakamura
Time:
Location:

Last offered: Spring 2011
ClassesV2 Server (supplementary readings, grades, etc.)

Brief Course Description
This course engages in a broad reading of classic and contemporary ethnographies of non-mainstream genders and sexualities. Our emphasis will be on understanding anthropology's contribution to and relationship with gay and lesbian studies and queer theory. Over the course of the semester, we will be reading and talking about what constitutes a queer ethnography and the history and future of an anthropology of sexuality.

Extended Course Description
Research of non-mainstream genders and sexualities in non-Western contexts has reinforced the premise that same-sex sexuality has always been a part of human variability. At the same time, this research has also served to deconstruct any simple rendition of binary sexuality (hetero vs. homosexuality) or normative genders (male:female). Using a close reading of the last thirty years of ethnographic monographs on non-normative genders and sexualities, this course analyzes anthropology's central but often rocky relationship with gay and lesbian studies and queer theory.

Our readings range from Ester Newton's (1972) classic monograph on American gay drag queens to Rudi Gaudio's (2009) exploration of gender, masculinity, and Islam in Allah Made Us. This course is open to all students with an interest in anthropology or gender and sexuality studies.

This is part of a two course pair that I teach. The other course (which is not a prerequisite, they can be taken in any order) is Anthro 287: Feminist Ethnographies.

Although it looks like we are reading a lot of books (one a week), most students have reported that the workload is about equal or less than other advanced seminars. This is because reading a book straight through is often easier than reading (and digesting) a handful of articles by different authors. The class assignments involve writing a weekly précis of the book, but there is no final term paper or final exam.

Prerequisites and Requirements

None. Students at every level and from every discipline and major are welcome to take the course.

Grades will be composed of:

1. Précis: 70% (undergraduates must do at least 9 of the 11; graduate students must do all 11). Precis guidelines here.
2. Pop Quizzes: 25% (every week)
3. Discussion leadership: 5%

Textbooks and Course Readings

Note: Because of the number of books, I strongly encourage you to set up reading groups in each college (we can organize this the first day of class or via ClassesV2). I also encourage you to buy used copies of the books through AbeBooks or Amazon (note that it can take up to 3 weeks for used books to arrive by media mail), use library copies, order copies through BorrowDirect or interlibrary loan, check the local New Haven library, etc.

Additional course materials such as articles will be distributed in class and through the ClassesV2 system.

 

• Early monographs on human sexuality:
  • Goffman, Erving (1963). Stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Touchstone
  • Humphreys, Laud (1970/1975). Tearoom trade: impersonal sex in public places. New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
  • Hogbin, [Herbert] Ian (1970). The Island of Menstruating Men: Religion in Wogeo, New Guinea. Scranton: Chandler.
  • Newton, Esther (1972). Mother camp: female impersonators in America.Chicago, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226577600.
  • Herdt, Gilbert (1981). Guardians of the Flutes: Idioms of Masculinity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226327495.
• Gay and Lesbian Studies
  • Nanda, Serena (1990) Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India. Wadsworth. ISBN 0534509037.
  • Williams, Walter (1992). The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture. Boston: Beacon.
  • Weston, Kath (1991) Families We Choose. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231110938.
  • Lancaster, Roger (1993) Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua. UC Press. 0520089294
• Early Queer Ethnographies
  • Gamson, Joshua (1998). Freaks talk back: tabloid talk shows and sexual non-conformity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226280659
  • Kulick, Don (1998). Travesti: sex, gender, and culture among Brazilian transgendered prostitutes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226461009
• Recent ethnographies and monographs (2000+)
• Manalansan, M (2003) Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora. ISBN 0822332175.
• Erzen, T. (2006). Straight to Jesus: sexual and Christian conversions in the ex-gay movement. Berkeley, University of California Press. ISBN 0520245822.
• Sinnot, Megan (2004). Toms and Dees: Transgender Identity and Female Same Sex Relationships in Thailand. U-Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824828526.
• Bhaskaran, S. (2004). Made in India: Decolonizations, Queer Sexualities, Trans/national Projects. New York: Palgrave.
• Boellstorff, Tom (2005). The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and the Nation in Indonesia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP.
• Boellstorff, Tom (2007). A Coincidence of Desires: Anthropology, Queer Studies, Indonesia. Durham, NC: Duke UP.
• Valentine, D (2007) Imagining Transgender: An Ethnography of a Category. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 0822338696.
• Padilla, Mark (2007) Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality, and AIDS in the Dominican Republic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Wekker, G (2007) The Politics of Passion: Women's Sexual Culture in the Afro- Surinamese Diaspora. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Karkazis, Katrina (2008) Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience. Duke University Press.
• Gaudio, Rudolf (2009) Allah Made Us: Sexual Outlaws in an Islamic African City. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Edited Volumes and Anthologies
  • Glave, Thomas (2008) Our Caribbean: A gathering of lesbian and gay writing from the Antilles. Duke University Press.
  • Murray, David, ed. (2009) Homophobias: Lust and loathing across time and space. Charlotte: Duke University Press.
• Other Books
• Feinstein, Leslie (1993). Stone Butch Blues.
• Altman, Dennis (2001). Global Sex.
• Young, Antonia, Women who become men: Albanian Sworn Virgins.
• Reddy, Gayatri (2005). With respect to sex: Negotiating Hijra Idenitty.
• Halberstam, Judith (1998). Female masculinity. Durham, NC ; London, Duke University Press.
• Articles:
  • Emilio, John (1983). Sexual politics, sexual communities: the making of a homosexual minority in the United States 1940-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Davis, D. L. and R. G. Whitten (1987). "The cross-cultural study of human sexuality." Annual Review of Anthropology 16: 69-98.
  • Weston, Kath (1993). "Lesbian/gay studies in the house of anthropology." Annual Review of Anthropology (22): 339-67.
  • Bustos-Aguilar, Pedro (1995). "Mister don't touch the banana: notes on the popularity of the ethnosexed body south of the border." Critique of Anthropology (15): 149-170.
  • Wim Lunsing (1999) - Love and Sex in Japan
  • Deborah Elliston (1995) - Erotic Anthropology
  • Dave, Naisargi (2011). Indian and lesbian and what came next: Affect, commensuration, and queer emergences. American Ethnologist Volume 38. Issue 4. November (Pages 650 - 665).
  • Geller, Pamela (2009). Bodyscapes, Biology, and Heteronormativity. AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Vol. 111, Issue 4, pp. 504–516. DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01159.x. -- On archaeology and queer bodies
• Annual Reviews of Anthropology
  • Lesbian/Gay Studies in the House of Anthropology. Vol 22 (1993). - Kath Weston.
  • Gay and lesbian language. Annual Review of Anthropology Vol 29 (2000) - Don Kulick.
  • Sexuality, culture, and power in HIV/AIDS research. Vol 30 (2001). - Richard Parker.
  • Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology Vol 36: 17-35 (2007) - Tom Boellstorff.
  • Alternative kinship, marriage, and reproduction. Annual Review of Anthropology Vol 37 (2009).
  • Identity and difference: Complicating gender in archaelogy. Vol 38 (2009).
  • Transnational sex work. Vol 40. (2010.10) - Jennifer Cole
• Films
  • Early Films
    • Paris is Burning (1990)
  • Religion and Sexuality
    • Trembling before G-d (2001)
    • A Jihad for Love (2007)
    • City of Borders (2009)
    • Eyes Wide Open (2009)
  • Gender Variance
    • Shinjuku Boys (1995)
    • Boys Don't Cry (1999)
    • All About My Mother (1999)
    • The Aggressives (2005)
    • XXY (2007)
    • Sex My Life (2008)
    • Assume Nothing (2009)
    • Paulista (2009)

Online Resources

• Lauren Hastings (Columbia Univ): Gender Pretenders - a drag king ethnography