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
E-mail:
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.
- 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.
Important Dates
February 10Top Blackboard post #1
March 9Top Blackboard post #2
April 6Top Blackboard post #3
April 7-8 Oral exams (approx. 30 min each)
April 10Final 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 asyour 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.
“QueerlyAnthropology: 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 co-hosting 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 rationale, a table of contents with brief chapter descriptions, and an annotated bibliography of 40-50 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 andbring 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
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
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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