Queer Political Performance and Protest

by Shepard; Benjamin

• ISBN13: 9780415960960
• ISBN10: 0415960967
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-09-08
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

From the birth of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987, through the rise of the global justice movement in 1994, the largest day of antiwar protest in world history in February 2003, the Republican National Convention protests in August 2004, and the massive immigrant rights rallies in the spring of 2006, the streets of cities around the world have been filled with a new theatrical model of protest. Elements of fun, creativity, pleasure, and play are cornerstones of this new approach toward protest and community building. No movement has had a larger influence on the emergence of play in social movement activity than the gay liberation and queer activism of the past thirty years. This book examines the role of play in gay liberation and queer activism, and the ways in which queer notions of play have influenced a broad range of social movements.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction: Pleasure is a Resource: From Drag Marches to Global Justice Movements	p. 1
Play and World Making: From Berlin to the Black Cat	p. 22
Play as Pleasure: Gay Liberation and Movements for Sexual Freedom	p. 33
Play as Resilience: Eros Versus Thanatos in ACT UP	p. 70
Playing by Different Rules: DIY Experiments in Harm Reduction	p. 134
Play and Panic in the Neoliberal City: The AIDS Prevention Action League and SexPanic!	p. 161
Activism as Circus: From Street Carnival to Direct Action	p. 239
Conclusion: Reconsidering and Situating Play: From ACT UP to the Rude Mechanical Orchestra	p. 264
Appendix: Methodological Notes on the Study of Play and Pleasure in Social Movements	p. 279
References	p. 287
About the Author	p. 309
Index	p. 311
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