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Margaret Mead Made Me Gay is the intellectual autobiography of cultural anthropologist Esther Newton, a pioneer in gay and lesbian studies. Chronicling the development of her ideas from the excitement of early feminism in the 1960s to friendly critiques of queer theory in the 1990s, this collection covers a range of topics such as why we need more precise sexual vocabularies, why there have been fewer women doing drag than men, and how academia can make itself more hospitable to queers. It brings together such classics as “The Mythic Mannish Lesbian” and “Dick(less) Tracy and the Homecoming Queen” with entirely new work such as “Theater: Gay Anti-Church.”
Newton’s provocative essays detail a queer academic career while offering a behind-the-scenes view of academic homophobia. In four sections that correspond to major periods and interests in her life-”Drag and Camp,” “Lesbian-Feminism,” “Butch,” and “Queer Anthropology”-the volume reflects her successful struggle to create a body of work that uses cultural anthropology to better understand gender oppression, early feminism, theatricality and performance, and the sexual and erotic dimensions of fieldwork. Combining personal, theoretical, and ethnographic perspectives, Margaret Mead Made Me Gay also includes photographs from Newton’s personal and professional life.
With wise and revealing discussions of the complex relations between experience and philosophy, the personal and the political, and identities and practices, Margaret Mead Made Me Gay is important for anyone interested in the birth and growth of gay and lesbian studies.
Table des matières
Foreword: The Butch Anthropologist Out in the Field / Judith Halberstam ix
Foreword: On Being Different: An Appreciation / William L. Leap xix
Acknowledgments xxiii
Introduction 1
Part I: Drag and Camp
From the Appendix to
Mother Camp, Field Methods (1972) 11
Role Models (1972) 14
Preface to the Phoenix Edition of
Mother Camp (1979) 30
Theater: Gay Anti-Church-More Notes on Camp (1992/1999) 34
Dick(less) Tracy and the Homecoming Queen: Lesbian Power and Representation in Gay Male Cherry Grove (1996) 63
Part II: Lesbian-Feminism
High School Crack-up (1973) 93
Marginal Woman/Marginal Academic (1973) 103
The Personal is Political: Consciousness Raising and Personal Change in the Women's Liberation Movement (Shirley Walton, 1971) 113
Excerpt from
Womanfriends (with Shirley Walton, 1976) 142
Will the Real Lesbian Community Please Stand Up? (1982/1998) 155
Part III: Butch
The Misunderstanding: Toward a More Precise Sexual Vocabulary (with Shirley Walton
, 1984) 167
The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman(1984) 176
Beyond Freud, Ken, and Barbie (1986) 189
My Butch Career: A Memoir (1996) 195
Part IV: Queer Anthropology
DMS: The Outsider's Insider (1995) 215
Too Queer for College: Notes on Homophobia (1987) 219
An Open Letter to "Manda Cesara" (1980) 225
Of Yams, Grinders, and Gays: The Anthropology of Homosexuality (1988) 229
Lesbian and Gay Issues in Anthropology: Some Remarks to the Chairs of Anthropology Departments (1993) 238
My Best Informant’s Dress: The Erotic Equation in Fieldwork (1992) 243
Notes 259
Bibliography 293
Index 311
A propos de l'auteur
Esther Newton is Professor of Anthropology and Kempner Distinguished Professor at State University of New York at Purchase. She is the author of several books, including Mother Camp, a groundbreaking study of American drag queens, and Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America’s First Gay and Lesbian Town. Among other distinctions, she was Scholarly Advisor for the documentary film Paris Is Burning, a founding member of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, and member of the Advisory Group for Stonewall History Project.
Résumé
An autobiography of cultural anthropologist Esther Newton, a pioneer in gay and lesbian studies. Chronicling the development of her ideas from the excitement of early feminism in the 1960s to friendly critiques of queer theory in the 1990s, it is suitable for those interested in the birth and growth of gay and lesbian studies.
