Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 61 - 90 of 102
Full-Text Articles in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
Lgbt Studies: Past, Presences And Futures, Richard M. Juang
Lgbt Studies: Past, Presences And Futures, Richard M. Juang
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
When I rolled out of bed at 4 am on April 20 to make the trip to New York for "Futures of the Field: Building LGBT Studies into the 21st Century University," the idea of discussing institutionalization was less than appealing. In a time of staff cutbacks, increasing courseloads and notoriously poor job markets, going back to sleep seemed a much better idea.
Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On, Alisa Solomon
Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On, Alisa Solomon
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
I’ve just finished teaching an undergraduate Shakespeare class at Baruch College—CUNY to a class of mostly business majors. For many of the students, English is not their first language, so predictably, they had some trouble parsing Shakespeare's text. But they had no difficulty at all understanding what was going on between Patroclus and Achilles in Troilus and Cressida, or, arguably, between Antonio and Sebastian—or Olivia and Viola or Orsino and Cesario—in Twelfth Night. In general, they were not in the slightest surprised to find homoeroticism in the works of the Greatest Writer Ever. (Indeed, critically analyzing Bardolatry was …
Remembering Beyond The Self: Crossing Borders 2001, Jill Dolan
Remembering Beyond The Self: Crossing Borders 2001, Jill Dolan
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
In a passionate keynote address at the third in CLAGS's series of "Crossing Borders" conferences, Cherríe Moraga called on conference participants to "hold the pussy in public," to join otherwise isolated Latina/o artists in bringing racialized queerness into public debate. Presented at the University of Texas at Austin in February, "Crossing Borders 2001: U.S. Latina/o Queer Performance" was linked by its coalitional politics around race and ethnicity—broadly figured as latinidad—and gender and sexuality. This three-day gathering was sponsored by CLAGS through a generous gift from the Michael C.P. Ryan Estate and co-sponsored by the Center for Dramatic and Performance Studies …
Emerging Fields Of Study, Lesley C. Graydon
Emerging Fields Of Study, Lesley C. Graydon
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
When I learned that CLAGS had secured an interdisciplinary program in Lesbian and Gay Studies and that the first course, An Introduction to Lesbian and Gay/Queer Studies, was to be offered in the Fall, I knew that I wanted to be in what I conceived as the first step in a much larger offering and celebration of critical ideas and counter-hegemonic discourse. I thought: finally, I won't be the only student reading and thinking from a radically left, feminist, lesbian, perspective - not that all of these four leanings must in any way accompany the position of lesbian, gay or …
Why Do They Strike Us?, James Polchin
Why Do They Strike Us?, James Polchin
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Over the past two years since the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie Wyoming, the circumstances of his death have held a symbolic place in the story of violence against gay men and lesbians nationally. University of Wyoming Professor Beth Loffreda's book Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder is on the "Lambda Book Report" best-sellers list and MTV has recently premiered "Anatomy of a Hate Crime: The Matthew Shepard Story" that dramatized the events of October 6th, 1998. The telling and retelling of Shepard's murder in both academic books and popular culture suggests …
Major Advances, Omar Portillo
Major Advances, Omar Portillo
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
When I receive copies of my college transcripts from CUNY these days, under my major it reads, "Gay and Lesbian Studies," followed by "Gender and Sexuality Studies." As far as I know, I am the first CUNY undergraduate to see such a major on his/her transcript. I have managed to build this major through the CUNY BA program — which allows students to fashion their own major if no campus provides it, by compiling courses at a range of CUNY campuses — and CLAGS has been instrumental in my achieving this goal. It makes me feel so proud to know …
Looking Back, Looking Ahead, Alisa Solomon
Looking Back, Looking Ahead, Alisa Solomon
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Vivien Ng said something at a roundtable discussion CLAGS hosted in October that has been ringing in my ears ever since. The roundtable had brought together a range of Women's Studies and LGTBQ Studies scholars, writers and teachers, to consider what lessons LGTBQ Studies might draw from its older sister as the younger field becomes further institutionalized at universities and colleges across the country. Was feminism still a motive force? we wondered. Did that field somehow speak to and from a vibrant movement, or at least to and from women's communities? Was it still accountable to them in some way? …
Lesson Plans: Clags/Nyu Csgs Pedagogy Workshops, Spring 2020, Carolyn Dinshaw
Lesson Plans: Clags/Nyu Csgs Pedagogy Workshops, Spring 2020, Carolyn Dinshaw
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Responding to the felt need for a public space in which to discuss the special issues involved in teaching gender and sexuality, Alisa Solomon and I planned a series of three Pedagogy Workshops this spring. Over our combined 30+ years of teaching (!), we had been struck by both the unique difficulties of teaching in these areas and the lack of fora in which to explore these particular challenges. We'd also been moved by reflection on how issues had changed for us as teachers as students changed with changing times, and as we gained experience—not always positive— in the classroom.
"Who Is Sleeping In The Bed Of Sodom?", Nancy Levene
"Who Is Sleeping In The Bed Of Sodom?", Nancy Levene
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
The question that I am left with from the extraordinary presentations over the conference's two days borrows from Rabbi Steve Greenberg's and Ludger Viefhues's discussion of the multiple images of the biblical "Sodom". Conventionally Sodom has signified a place of sexual deviance or, conversely, sexual censorship. But as Greenberg pointed out, in many traditional commentaries on the story of the condemnation of Sodom, the issue was not that the townspeople were engaged in forbidden sexual practices, but that they were violent and hostile to those in need of shelter and food.
Quny Notes, Robert Kaplan
Quny Notes, Robert Kaplan
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
In March 2000, QUNY, the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered/queer graduate student group at the CUNY Graduate Center, hosted former CLAGS Board member Elizabeth Freeman, who gave a highly informative talk about queer work and the academic job market. In May, QUNY celebrated the end of the first academic year in its new home with a social to which many new students came with ideas for next year's calendar. Everyone was especially excited about the Graduate Center's new concentration in lesbian/gay/queer studies that begins Fall 2000.
Excerpt From (Same) Sex Tourism, Jasbir Puar
Excerpt From (Same) Sex Tourism, Jasbir Puar
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
The impetus behind this project stems from an incident in February 1998 when several "gay" cruises originating from Europe and the U.S. were refused docking privileges in various parts of the Caribbean, invoking responses from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. officials, both insisting on the egregious violation of human rights. The on-going dilemma over the docking of gay cruise ships led me to ask questions about the constructions of community created through and against such encounters and the production of a global gay identity that is contested by postcolonial situations. Ironically, the U.S. and British states advocate protection …
At The Threshold, Alisa Solomon
At The Threshold, Alisa Solomon
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Hunter College professor Joan Tronto was sitting around her office one day, she told us at the Queer CUNY conference on May 6, and a student she'd never met dropped in and sort of just smiled at her. "Hi," the student said. "I saw your name on the flyer for the conference on Saturday," and that was all. The student flashed another moony grin, and then vanished. Over the course of a few days, several other students came by and did the same thing.
Glbt Think Tank And Research Network Formed At Creating Change, Sean Cahill
Glbt Think Tank And Research Network Formed At Creating Change, Sean Cahill
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Representatives of gay and lesbian think tanks and research directors of key organizations met on November 13th at the 12th annual National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) Creating Change Conference to initiate a network of GLBT researchers working on policy issues affecting GLBT people. The new GLBT Research Network will coordinate the work of the major academic and activist think tanks and the research departments of GLBT organizations and allied groups.
Quny Notes, Robert Kaplan
Quny Notes, Robert Kaplan
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
QUNY, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer graduate student group at the CUNY Graduate Center, officially moved into its new space in the new Graduate Center this fall. For the first time in its history, QUNY has its own office, which we are hoping to turn into an accessible place for queer graduate students to study or relax. In addition to our regular socials, we will be hosting a decorating party in February, and are happy to accept donations of posters, books, office supplies or anything that is currently cluttering up your apartment that you think would help turn …
Excerpt From Wrestling With Rustin, Or The Left Will Rise Again, Maybe, John D'Emilio
Excerpt From Wrestling With Rustin, Or The Left Will Rise Again, Maybe, John D'Emilio
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Four years ago, CLAGS sponsored a conference on the state of gay and lesbian history. I was one of several presenters in a session on biography. None of us on the panel had consulted beforehand. But by the beginning of the third or fourth presentation, a common pattern had emerged, and the audience erupted with laughter. Each one of us had opened our remarks with a mixture of apology and denial: we each were not, we assured the audience, writing a biography!
On The Agenda, Alisa Solomon
On The Agenda, Alisa Solomon
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
This newsletter goes to press just as Millennium Mania is reaching its fever pitch. If my own dismissive attitude toward the doom-sayers turns out to be warranted, our computers have not collapsed, the sky has not fallen, and our newsletter has reached your address intact. Of course there's been more to the millennial madness than apocalyptic anxieties and mega-marketing opportunities for products and services of all sorts and sizes. The obsession with Y2K— which represents only one of the world's calendar systems, after all— has also marked the way in which a particular religious view increasingly passes for the secular …
Seminars In The City Update, Paisley Currah
Seminars In The City Update, Paisley Currah
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Each semester, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies hosts a Seminar in the City, a series of monthly discussion meetings where nonacademic readers read major works in lesbian/gay/ bisexual/transgender and queer studies. This fall, Seminars in the City focused on the theme of transgender politics, reading texts by Kate Bornstein, Leslie Feinberg, and Riki Anne Wilchins.
Supreme Court To Rule On Student Fees Case, Arthur S. Leonard
Supreme Court To Rule On Student Fees Case, Arthur S. Leonard
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
The U.S. Supreme Court announced March 29 that it will intervene in the "culture wars" raging in academia by considering whether public university students have a constitutional right to block use of their student activity fees by student organizations of which they disapprove. Lesbian and gay studies programs, such as CLAGS, are at the heart of these culture wars, as right-wing groups raise public controversies about the discussion of sexuality in the academy and question the very legitimacy of lesbian and gay studies as an academic discipline.
Local/Global Conference Stages Conversation About Queer Future, Chandan Reddy
Local/Global Conference Stages Conversation About Queer Future, Chandan Reddy
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
On April 23rd and 24th, CLAGS hosted Local Politics and Global Change: Academics and Activists Thinking About a Queer Future. The conference employed an innovative structure within which panelists, rather than delivering papers on their individual skill area or academic interest, were asked to respond from their located standpoint to prepared questions. These questions elaborated upon the broad topic of each panel and roundtable, which also included extended Q&A periods that encouraged conversation between "audience," moderator, and panelists. To describe the format seems noteworthy because it contributed in part to one of the most outstanding features of this conference: There …
Clags Forms New Cuny Committee, Robert Kaplan
Clags Forms New Cuny Committee, Robert Kaplan
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
The CUNY Graduate Center (within which CLAGS is housed) draws its faculty from the senior colleges and community colleges of the CUNY system. This consortial arrangement means that CLAGS is uniquely positioned to serve as a focal point through which queer students and academics at all the CUNY campuses can network with each other.
Sexual Difference And Black Communities, Barbara Smith
Sexual Difference And Black Communities, Barbara Smith
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
During my fellowship year I have had the opportunity to deepen my understanding of Black lesbians and gays' historical relationship to large Black communities through interviews with a variety of informants. I have especially made progress in my research concerning Black lesbians and gays in Cleveland, Ohio (which was the focus of my CLAGS colloquium) and in my documentation of Black educational institutions as identifiable locations of lesbian and gay life.
Without Closets, Without Shame: Conference Commemorates Latino/A Autobiography And Testimony, Oscar Montero, Elena Martínez, Ramón Rivera-Servera
Without Closets, Without Shame: Conference Commemorates Latino/A Autobiography And Testimony, Oscar Montero, Elena Martínez, Ramón Rivera-Servera
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Crossing Borders '99, the second CLAGS conference focusing on Latino/a queers, opened Thursday evening, March 11, with a Cabaret Night hosted by the "Songbird of Cuba," Carmelita Tropicana. The evening, subtitled "Sin closet/sin verguenza" ("Without Closets/Without Shame") featured, among others, Deyanira Bautista's Afro-Caribbean Drums, dancer Arthur Aviles with his nude flying body, and the sultry, seductive, Mexican drag chanteuse, Tito Vasconcelos.
Redefining 'Institution', Alisa Solomon
Redefining 'Institution', Alisa Solomon
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
I'm thrilled and honored to be succeeding Jill Dolan as Executive Director of CLAGS. Thanks to Jill and to Marty Duberman before her—and to all past and current Board members and to the miracle-working staff—CLAGS is a secure and solid institution. Let me quickly explain what I mean by 'institution' for it is a word I don't always use comfortably as it tends to conjure in my bohemian brain images of stuffiness and caution, bureaucratic stasis and lumbering loss of purpose. That's the last thing CLAGS has become. On the contrary, CLAGS remains lively, responsive, provocative, and ever self-critical.
A Fond Farewell, Jill Dolan
A Fond Farewell, Jill Dolan
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Sadly, this is my last column as the Executive Director of CLAGS. After five years teaching and working at CUNY's Graduate Center, I've decided to accept a position at the University of Texas at Austin. This was a difficult decision to make, but the offer of an endowed chair in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UT was finally too attractive to pass up.
Clags Forms New Advocacy Committee, Elizabeth Freeman
Clags Forms New Advocacy Committee, Elizabeth Freeman
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
During the 1990s, attacks on the arts and higher education have demonized Women's Studies and Gay/Lesbian Studies, as well as those courses designed to make higher education available to academically underprivileged students. The CLAGS Board of Directors has come to feel that CLAGS should be taking a leading role in debates that use homophobia, racism, and sexism to justify cuts in funding for the arts and education, restrictions on freedom of academic and artistic expression, and policies that restrict access to higher learning. For this reason, we have formed a Board committee for advocacy in the arts and education.
Quny Notes, Linda Camarasana
Quny Notes, Linda Camarasana
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
QUNY, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer student group at the CUNY Graduate Center, has recently elected Robert Kaplan (English) to join Manolo Guzman (Sociology) as the graduate student representatives to the CLAGS board. QUNY and CLAGS have also been working together to develop an interdisciplinary concentration in lesbian and gay studies at the GSUC.
Politics, Pedagogy, And Shaping Public Policy, Jill Dolan
Politics, Pedagogy, And Shaping Public Policy, Jill Dolan
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
We never exactly know when history is going to catch up with us, when we'll be in the midst of a crucial moment to which posterity will refer as key, as significant, as a lynchpin on which other moments, other decisions, other understandings were founded. The impeachment hearings recently conducted in the House of Representatives dragged us all, unwilling and amazed, into a dark hour of American politics, one in which partisan fury and ideological hatred are translated into strategies of power that disregard and reverse electoral politics. There's much to say about the disappointing performance of Bill Clinton as …
Passing Performances: Conference Opens Closet Of American Theatre, James Wilson
Passing Performances: Conference Opens Closet Of American Theatre, James Wilson
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
Coincidentally, CLAGS's one-day symposium "Passing Performances: History, Evidence, Identification" occurred just as Hollywood's biggest film star publicly rejected the long-standing and wide-spread claims that he is gay. In a high-profile legal battle that concluded this past fall, Tom Cruise and his wife Nicole Kidman settled their libel suit against a London tabloid, which asserted that their eight-year marriage is actually a ruse constructed to conceal Cruise's alleged homosexuality. The couple reportedly settled for more than $500,000, and they hoped to quash rumors once and for all that their marriage is a sham. Even in this "post-Ellen" era, the suit reflects …
Clags Launches Seminars In The City, Elizabeth Freeman
Clags Launches Seminars In The City, Elizabeth Freeman
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
In July, CLAGS (in partnership with A Different Light Bookstore) launches a public education series, Seminars in the City. This monthly series of structured discussions of major works in lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender and queer studies, led by CLAGS Board members who are scholars in the field, will be aimed at nonacademic readers. We hope that Seminars in the City will supplement the scholarly colloquium series, in which academics present works in progress, by offering "lay people" the same kind of forum to learn together. No background required, and no term papers: just a willingness to read one book a month and share …
Joseph Reflects On Residency, Miranda Joseph
Joseph Reflects On Residency, Miranda Joseph
Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)
This year I have worked primarily on two sections of my book project, Performing Community. The paper I presented at my CLAGS colloquium, a version of the first chapter of the book, focused on the "discourse of community." The idealization of community as a site of identity, commonality, communion, communication, and consensus was heavily critiqued in the 1980s by feminist and poststrucutralist theorists who recognized that identity-based communities are, in fact, quite exclusionary and oppressive, defining themselves in opposition to others, universalizing the particularities upon which they are based, and erasing differences among community members.