ABOUT THIS BOOK

What is it about “the homosexual” that incites vitriolic rhetoric and violence around the world? How and why do some people hate queers? Does homophobia operate differently across social, political, and economic terrains? What are the ambivalences in homophobic discourses that can be exploited to undermine its hegemonic privilege? This volume addresses these questions through critical interrogations of sites where homophobic discourses are produced. It provides innovative analytical insights that expose the complex and intersecting cultural, political, and economic forces contributing to the development of new forms of homophobia. And it is a call to action for anthropologists and other social scientists to examine more carefully the politics, histories, and contexts of places and people who profess hatred for queerness.

The contributors to this volume open up the scope of inquiry into processes of homophobia, moving the analysis of a particular form of “hate” into new, wider sociocultural and political fields. The ongoing production of homophobic discourses is carefully analyzed in diverse sites including New York City, Australia, the Caribbean, Greece, India, and Indonesia, as well as American Christian churches, in order to uncover the complex operational processes of homophobias and their intimate relationships to nationalism, sexism, racism, class, and colonialism. The contributors also critically inquire into the limitations of the term homophobia and interrogate its utility as a cross-cultural designation.

Contributors. Steven Angelides, Tom Boellstorff, Lawrence Cohen, Don Kulick, Suzanne LaFont, Martin F. Manalansan IV, David A. B. Murray, Brian Riedel, Constance R. Sullivan-Blum

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

David A. B. Murray is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Graduate Program in Women’s Studies at York University in Toronto. He is the author of Opacity: Gender, Sexuality, Race, and the “Problem” of Identity in Martinique.

REVIEWS

“Homophobias provides a much-needed perspective for bringin the reader to a more objective understanding of the mechanics of GLBT hatred and rhetoric in other times and places.” - Brian Stachowiak, The Gay and Lesbian Review/Worldwide

“A major strength of this anthology is its attention to the roles of both colonialism (as a precedent of contemporary globalizing processes) and contemporary political, economic, and social changes on the development of attitudes toward sexuality and gender in postcolonial contexts.” - Amy L. Brandzel and Jara M. Carrington, Journal of Anthropological Research

“[A] splendid collection of essays. . . . This book is a must for anyone interested in anthropological fieldwork methods as well as theories of homosexuality.” - Kathleen Richardson, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“The essays bring careful attention to the conceptual pitfalls of typical understandings of homophobia and look instead for the complex cultural logics and constellation of social, political, and economic factors that undergird antihomosexual expressions. Ultimately, Homophobias invites us to rethink what we mean by ‘homophobia’ and to think more complexly about the particular, changing sources and meanings of antihomosexual phenomena.” - Karl Bryant, GLQ

“Homophobias is a well-edited collection of how homophobia is captured across cultures, time, and space. It also questions how homophobia—an exclusive prejudice against homosexuals—can exist as a universal form of discrimination, and how that discrimination can exist in various forms from political emasculation to violent attacks. Homophobias serves as an important collection of works with which to move past preconceived ideas of what one thinks constitutes homophobia.” - Olupero R. Aiyenimelo, Feminist Review blog

“Homophobias is a well-edited collection of how homophobia is captured across cultures, time, and space. It also questions how homophobia—an exclusive prejudice against homosexuals—can exist as a universal form of discrimination, and how that discrimination can exist in various forms from political emasculation to violent attacks. Homophobias serves as an important collection of works with which to move past preconceived ideas of what one thinks constitutes homophobia.”

-- Olupero R. Aiyenimelo Feminist Review blog

“[A] splendid collection of essays. . . . This book is a must for anyone interested in anthropological fieldwork methods as well as theories of homosexuality.”

-- Kathleen Richardson Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“A major strength of this anthology is its attention to the roles of both colonialism (as a precedent of contemporary globalizing processes) and contemporary political, economic, and social changes on the development of attitudes toward sexuality and gender in postcolonial contexts.”

-- Amy L. Brandzel and Jara M. Carrington Journal of Anthropological Research

“The essays bring careful attention to the conceptual pitfalls of typical understandings of homophobia and look instead for the complex cultural logics and constellation of social, political, and economic factors that undergird antihomosexual expressions. Ultimately, Homophobias invites us to rethink what we mean by ‘homophobia’ and to think more complexly about the particular, changing sources and meanings of antihomosexual phenomena.”

-- Karl Bryant GLQ

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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