Queer

At the time of Tom Boellstorff’s (2007) article ‘Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology,’ little anthropological research had been undertaken in the realm of non-normative sexualities and genders in non-western contexts. Along with this, there was a lack of scholarship on female non-normative sexualities in both western and non-western contexts. Boellstorff (2007:21) argued that this gap in anthropological research was due to a range of factors; particularly the continued barriers women face cross culturally in accessing both public and private space away from males. In this essay I will argue that anthropologists have since attempted to fill this gap. With ethnographic monographs on non-normative sexualities in non-western contexts arising,…

The focus for this week is the status of queer people in international organizations and development projects. Lind argues that through conscious effort international organizations positions people who defy heteronormative gender and sexual norms as visible or invisible. This strategic placement of queer people helps their agenda of governing intimacy in order to further a specific development narrative; which founds itself in heterosexuality and traditional gender norms. Lind mentions the…

Since the 16th century, the term “queer” has always been defined to describe something or someone as strange or odd. It wasn’t until the late 19th century the term began to have a new and informal meaning. The 1900’s had a lot of unexpected and exciting things happening. Exciting things like World War I ending in 1918, beginning the spark of the roaring 20’s to the most historical concert Woodstock in 1969. The meaning of queer started to change its course in the early 1900’s. More than a decade…

They conversed their concerns and personal occurrences as being queer in relation to OU campus. The leaders of the club realized an unfortunate pattern, stories being told over and over again of feeling unsecure, unsafe, being bullied, and not feeling welcome. The GEC knew they had to do something to change this so they gathered, all of its groups, Queer Inclusion Club, The LGBTQ of OU, Mosaic, and Sexperts, together they created a list of issues with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender…

groundbreaking article “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” a year after a controversy she introduces in the beginning of the essay. The famed Gay Men’s Health Crisis, best known for their active role in the treatment of HIV/AIDS during the AIDS crisis, came under fire after…

The definition of Queer is broad and inconsistent. Many researchers have elected to let the reader define Queer. The use of Queer theory is used broadly; however, readers are required to deduce their own definition of Queer based on the discussion of Queer theory by the author(s). For the purpose of this piece, this researcher will utilize several discussions and applications of Queer theory to develop their own definition of Queer identity itself. In developing their “Queer of Color…

children’s fantasy novel The House of Hades (2013) caused controversy when it was released for the explicit inclusion of the first queer child, Nico di Angelo, in mainstream children’s fantasy. Though Nico had been present in six instalments beforehand, in The House of Hades Nico came out as having feelings for Percy Jackson. Since The House of Hades, Riordan’s novels have featured gay, bisexual, and transgender characters. While queer themes may not be explicit in the rest of his works, many of…

My practice predominantly focuses on an exploration of my queer identity, with a particular interest in the negative historical representation of queer people as deviants. As the semester developed I began to explore this idea in relation to the stigma surrounding the title of ‘artist’ in western society. Formally, my practice has predominately focused on digital media and performance as well as performance documentation. I have focused on these material approaches because I do not consider the…

Throughout LGBTQ activism and political pursuits, the queer community has fostered distinct approaches to organization, evident in its political organization around identities and its political organization around issues. While both of these approaches possess individual strengths, they have also been a topic of contention within the community, as opinions vary in regard to whether the use of coalitional or identity politics is most effective in the pursuit of equal rights. In this paper, I will…

In A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory by Nikki Sullivan brings up many diverse topics but they all fall under one umbrella, queer theory. Under the section titled The Social Construction of Same-Sex Desire: Sin, Crime, Sickness, Sullivan opens up by stating that sexuality is not natural but rather socially constructed. Sullivan then goes on to trace back the history of sexuality to when sexologist first gave homosexuality a name. The points that Sullivan brings up are both very interesting…