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

Queer Ethnographies

Prof. Karen Nakamura
Time: TBA
Location: TBA

Last offered: Spring 2007
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; Kath Weston's (1991) study of gay and lesbian kinship; to Megan Sinnot's (2004) contemporary critical explorations of female same-sex sexuality in Thailand. This course is open to all students with an interest in anthropology or gender and sexuality studies.

This is part of a two course sequence which 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 (about one a week), most students have reported that the workload is about equal or less than other 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.

Prerequisites and Requirements

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

Textbooks and Course Readings

The required textbooks will be available at the Labyrinth bookstore. Course readings in the forms of articles will be distributed in class and also available through the ClassesV2 system.

• Early monographs:
  • Humphreys, Laud (1970/1975). Tearoom trade: impersonal sex in public places. New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
  • Newton, Esther (1972). Mother camp: female impersonators in America.Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
  • Herdt, Gilbert (1986). The Sambia.Fort Worth, Texas, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
  • Weston, Kath (1991). Families we choose: Lesbians, gays, kinship.New York, Columbia University Press.
  • Feinberg, L. (1993). Stone butch blues. Ithaca, NY, Firebrand Books.
• Recent ethnographies and monographs (1995+)
  • Gamson, Joshua (1998). Freaks talk back: tabloid talk shows and sexual non-conformity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Kulick, Don (1998). Travesti: sex, gender, and culture among Brazilian transgendered prostitutes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Sinnot, Megan J. (2004). Toms and dees: transgender identity and female same-sex relationships in Thailand. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
  • Boellstorff, Tom (2005). The Gay Archipelago. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Erzen, T. (2006). Straight to Jesus : sexual and Christian conversions in the ex-gay movement. Berkeley, University of California Press.
• Other Books
  • Goffman, Erving (1963). Stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Touchstone
  • Halberstam, Judith (1998). Female masculinity. Durham, NC ; London, Duke University Press.
  • Frank, Katherine (2002). G-Strings and Sympathy: strip club regulars and male desire. Durham: Duke University Press.
    
  • Emilio, John (1983). Sexual politics, sexual communities: the making of a homosexual minority in the United States 1940-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Articles:
  • 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.
  • ... TBA ...

Library Resources

• How to cite references:
• Anthropology Style Guide
• Citing Electronic Resources

Online Resources

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