Download Queer Ethnography Anthropology 456H University of Toronto Winter

Queer Ethnography
Anthropology 456H
University of Toronto
Winter 2016
W 4-6 AP 124
Instructor: Prof. Naisargi N. Dave
Office: Anthropology Building 206, 19 Russell Street
Office Hours: sign up at https://wejoinin.com/sheets/pfhez
E-mail: [email protected]
Course Description
In this course we read a lot of intriguing or well-regarded books* that can all be variously
categorized as “queer ethnography.” The term ethnography is important. We will be reading full
length monographs instead of articles (for the most part), in order to examine the craft of writing
books and the experience of reading them. The term ethnography is also important insofar as the
concept of “the anthropological” will be central for us. Not all of the texts we are reading are
written by anthropologists, nor would be considered by most anthropologists to be ethnographic.
We, however, will keep the question of what ethnography is open, while still hewing closely to
certain key modalities of anthropological writing such as attentive observation, authorial
reflexivity, a concept of “culture” or widely shared norms, and deep engagement over time. The
term queer will, as always, remain open in our conversations as well.
*I do not apply these descriptors to my own book, of course.
Required Texts
This course requires you to read many books, but does not necessarily require you to buy many
books. I suggest you set up reading groups in which you each buy some of the texts and share
them amongst yourselves. Many of them can also be found used or cheaper online, as you know.
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Newton, Esther. 1979. Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America.
Humphreys, Laud. 1975. Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places.
Feinberg, Leslie. 2004. Stone Butch Blues: A Novel.
Lorde, Audre. 1982. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name – A Biomythography.
Allen, Jafari. 2011. Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-Making in Cuba.
Dave, Naisargi. 2012. Queer Activism in India: A Story in the Anthropology of Ethics.
Mitchell, Gregory. 2015. Tourist Attractions: Performing Race and Masculinity in
Brazil’s Sexual Economy.
Chauncey, George. 2008. Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the
Gay Male World, 1890-1940.
Stout, Noelle. 2014. After Love: Queer Intimacy and Erotic Economies in Post-Soviet
Cuba.
Kulick, Don and Jens Rydstrom. 2015. Loneliness and its Opposite: Sex, Disability, and
the Ethics of Engagement.
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Important Dates
February 10
March 9
April 6
April 7-8
April 10
Top Blackboard post #1
Top Blackboard post #2
Top Blackboard post #3
Oral exams (approx. 30 min each)
Final papers due (11:59PM)
Course Requirements
Participation and Attendance (10%): The success of this seminar will be built on your active,
weekly participation and presence. Your final participation grade will be based on my evaluation
of your effort, contributions, and energy as well as your own assessment of your participation. I
should stress that I am a stickler for punctuality. If you are more than five minutes late, please
do not disrupt class by coming in. Needless to say, I do not want you to be late at all, even by
fewer than 5 minutes. Repeated tardiness (or absences) will result in a failing participation grade.
Weekly Blackboard Reflections (25%): Each week you will write a short (300 – 500 word)
reflection on the assigned text. Feel free to be creative. (In fact I encourage you to be creative, if
saying so doesn’t stress you out too much.) The grading will work like this. You must write
every week (except for the week you’re presenting) in order to receive a grade. Every 4
weeks you will choose the best entry you’ve written in that time period and I will grade it (see
Important Dates above). I may ask you to assess how you would grade your own reflections, and
this self-assessment will be part of your grade as well. The final mark for this assignment will be
an average of the three scores you receive over the term. Reflections must be submitted by
12pm on the day of each class. Late reflections will not be accepted unless you have a
documented medical excuse.
“Queerly Anthropology: A Weekly Podcast ” (15%): Each of you will team up with a classmate
to give a brief (20-minute) presentation on that day’s reading. Imagine that you and your partner
are recording an episode for a weekly podcast. Your audience consists primarily of
anthropologists (mostly students) and others interested in scholarship about queer life and lives.
After giving no more than a one- to two-sentence summary of what the book is about, and
succinctly explaining who the author is, you should begin critically analyzing the work. Some of
the questions you might address include the following. How is the book organized? What is
effective about it or what falls flat, and why? What other works in anthropology does this book
remind you of, and in what ways? How does this book depart from other work in anthropology?
What will your audience learn about anthropology and the craft of ethnography from reading this
book? Finally, do you recommend this book to your audience (or certain groups therein), and why
or why not? Feel free to pose questions to each other (much like you would if you were cohosting a real podcast). If time allows, you may take phone calls from listeners. I will evaluate
your presentations based on your preparation (individually and as co-hosts), oral presentation
skills, creativity, and analysis. Excessive summarizing will result in abrupt cancellation of the
episode.
Term paper: Book prospectus (30%): If you were a professional anthropologist and could
research and write a book about anything you’d like (anything queer, or queer-related, or so
straight that it’s queer), what would that book be? For this assignment you will write a book
prospectus on the book of your dreams. The prospectus will consist of a title, an abstract, a
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rationale, a table of contents with brief chapter descriptions, and an annotated bibliography of 4050 sources that will be key for your text.
Oral Exam (20%): Think of this as a conversation in which I assume you will have interesting
things to say about the course material.
Oral Exam in detail: “As mentioned, you must arrive and be ready to begin your exam 15
minutes before your assigned time. Please be sure to give yourself plenty of buffer time after your
exam time, in case things are running a bit late. To prepare for your exam: Consider it a given
that I will ask you about texts that you have not written adequate Blackboard reflections on and I
will ask you to talk about material we discussed on days you were not in class. If you were an
active participant all term, the exam will take the form of a more relaxed conversation. To bring
to the exam: (1) You are allowed to bring a hard copy of the syllabus with handwritten notes on
it. (2) You must prepare a 5-minute oral presentation on the main things you learned in this class
and any major thoughts or questions that have arisen for you. You may read this from a hard
copy. (3) You must prepare and bring a self-assessment of your performance in the class. You
should address your attendance, preparation, discussion participation, and weekly writings. If you
had to give yourself a grade, what would it be and why? I can answer further questions about the
exam in our next class.”
Other Policies
Eating: Please do not eat in class. Hydration, however, is encouraged.
Accessibility: You are entitled to disability-related accommodations. Please let me know of your
needs as early as possible.
Course Schedule
January 13: Introductions
Introduction to the course
January 20: Orientations
Rubin, Gayle. 2002. “Studying Sexual Subcultures: Excavating the Ethnography of Gay
Communities in Urban North America.”
Weston, Kath. 1993. “Lesbian/ Gay Studies in the House of Anthropology.” Annual Review of
Anthropology
Boellstorff, Tom. 2007. “Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology.” Annual Review of
Anthropology.
January 27
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Esther Newton, Mother Camp
February 3
Laud Humphreys, Tearoom Trade
February 10
Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues
February 17
READING WEEK / NO CLASS
February 24
Audre Lorde, Zami
March 2**
Jafari Allen, Venceremos
March 9
Naisargi Dave, Queer Activism in India
March 16
Gregory Mitchell, Tourist Attractions
March 23
George Chauncey, Gay New York
March 30
Noelle Stout, After Love.
April 6
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Don Kulick and Jens Rydstrom, Loneliness and its Opposite.
**Please note that we will need to schedule an alternative day and time for this meeting,
hopefully earlier that same week.
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