Out in Theory

by Lewin, Ellen

• ISBN13: 9780252070761
• ISBN10: 0252070763
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

A companion volume to Out in the Field, a benchmark examination of lesbian and gay experiences in anthropology, Out in Theory presents lesbian and gay anthropology as a distinct specialization and addresses the theoretical issues that define the emerging field. This compelling collection of essays details the scholarly and personal factors that affected the emergence of lesbian and gay anthropology and speculates on the directions it will take as it continues to grow and diversify. Seeking to legitimize the field's scholarship and address issues in terminology, the essays also define the lesbian and gay anthropology's scope and subject matter and locate factors that separate it from the wider concerns of the profession. Specific essays track the emergence of lesbian and gay studies in social and cultural anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, and in various areas of anthropological activism. They also consider how feminist anthropology helped define the field and how transgendered experience, queer theory, and race and class studies are promoting new directions of inquiry within lesbian and gay anthropology.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction	p. 1
Studying Sexual Subcultures: Excavating the Ethnography of Gay Communities in Urban North America	p. 17
Reading Sexualities across Cultures: Anthropology and Theories of Sexuality	p. 69
"These Natives Can Speak for Themselves": The Development of Gay and Lesbian Community Studies in Anthropology	p. 93
Another Unhappy Marriage? Feminist Anthropology and Lesbian/Gay Studies	p. 110
Studying Lesbian and Gay Languages: Vocabulary, Text-making, and Beyond	p. 128
The Iceman Cometh: Queering the Archaeological Past	p. 155
Bareback Sex, Risk, and Eroticism: Anthropological Themes (Re-)Surfacing in the Post-AIDS Era	p. 186
We're "Not about Gender": The Uses of "Transgender"	p. 222
A Queer Itinerary: Deviant Excursions into Modernities	p. 246
Do We All "Reek of the Commodity"? Consumption and the Erasure of Poverty in Lesbian and Gay Studies	p. 264
Anthropology's Queer Future: Feminist Lessons from Tahiti and Her Islands	p. 287
Contributors	p. 317
Index	p. 321
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