Homonational tongue?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyohei Itakura
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Gay Male ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Ethnographic Writing

Abstract This ethnographic writing animates the communal role of language through onē-kotoba (queen’s language) among Ni-chōme volleyballers (amateur volleyball-loving gay men in Tokyo). This gayly effeminate speech style remains firmly entrenched in Japanese media-representations of gay male characters despite its alleged rejection by actual gay men as well as its problematic characterization as being disrespectful to women. By adopting an ethnographic approach anchored in performance studies, I address onē-kotoba not in media but one real, perhaps unexpected, context of use. As Ni-chōme volleyballers swing between discretion and disclosure by fashioning language(/gender), such tactical performance of onē-kotoba lubricates an aesthetically pro-silence erotic play in tension with Japan’s – retrospectively and arguably – family-oriented, if not homophobic, sociocultural orientation resistant to “out-and-proud” activism. Overall, this ethnographic research highlights the enduring difficulty of radical coalition among diverse populations, as I spotlight Ni-chōme volleyballers by discussing what has been in Japan in relation to the Euro-American resistance-minded queer theory.

Embracing a New Day

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-38
Author(s):  
Phillip Joy ◽  
Matthew Numer ◽  
Sara F. L. Kirk ◽  
Megan Aston
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The City

The construction of masculinities is an important component of the bodies and lives of gay men. The role of gay culture on body standards, body dissatisfaction, and the health of gay men was explored using poststructuralism and queer theory within an arts-based framework. Nine gay men were recruited within the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Participants were asked to photograph their beliefs, values, and practices relating to their bodies and food. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, using the photographs as guides. Data were analyzed by critical discourse analysis and resulted in three overarching threads of discourse including: (1) Muscles: The Bigger the Better, (2) The Silence of Hegemonic Masculinity, and (3) Embracing a New Day. Participants believed that challenging hegemonic masculinity was a way to work through body image tension.

scholarly journals Gay men in the performing arts: Performing sexualities within ‘gay-friendly’ work contexts

Organization ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Rumens ◽  
John Broomfield
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Male Sexuality ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Gay Male ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Male Sexualities ◽  
Work Contexts

Building on emerging research on ‘gay-friendly’ organizations, this article examines if and how work contexts understood and experienced as ‘gay-friendly’ can be characterized as exhibiting a serious breakdown in heteronormativity. Taking the performing arts as a research setting, one that is often stereotyped as ‘gay-friendly’, and drawing on in-depth interview data with 20 gay male performers in the UK, this article examines how everyday activities and encounters involving drama school educators, casters and peers are shaped by heteronormative standards of gay male sexuality. Adopting a queer theory perspective and connecting with an emergent queer theory literature in organization studies, one concern articulated in this article is that heteronormative constructions of gay male sexualities constrain participants’ access to work; suggesting limits to the abilities and roles gay men possess and are able to play. Another concern is that when gay male sexualities become normalized in performing work contexts, they reinforce organizational heteronormativity and the heterosexual/homosexual binary upon which it relies. This study contributes towards theorizing the heteronormative dynamics of ‘gay-friendly’ places of work, arguing that gay male sexualities are performatively instituted according to localized heteronormativities which reinforce contextually contingent, restrictive heteronormative standards of gay male sexuality which performers are encouraged to embody and perform both professionally and personally.

Back Seat Girls: Where Do Dykes Sit with Queer theory?

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Harris
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Road Trip ◽  
Lesbian Relationships ◽  
The Road ◽  
Back Seat ◽  
Gay Male ◽  
Fitting In

Drawing on the narrative frames of the "road trip" and "lesbian drama," genres which, it could be argued, normatively construct Otherness with all that is Queer, in respect to not fitting in or belonging, this article attempts to draw on queer theory to out gay male and lesbian relationships. Relationships between gay men and lesbians, constructed in and around identity practices, have been troubled by the emergence of queer folk, productively focusing attention on the differences between and within gay male and lesbian identities and communities. Using the metaphor of "road trip" to Queer gay male and lesbian relationships, I reconsider the question of lesbian presences in queer theory and in doing so seek to productively trouble the normalising practices of identity with gay male and lesbian relationships.

Ironies of Distance: An Ongoing Critique of the Geographies of AIDS

1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Brown
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Medical Geography ◽  
Cultural Criticism ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethnographic Approach

Sociospatial distances fostered by recent geographies of AIDS are critiqued in this paper through cultural criticism and my own ethnographic work on AIDS politics in Vancouver, Canada. Specifically I note the tendency of medical geography and spatial science to distance themselves from gay men and their spaces, I argue this distancing is perpetrated by: (1) a focus on the virus, with gay men's bodies serving as vectors of transmission; and (2) an unobtrusive, detached rendering of the travels of the virus across space. In turn, I demonstrate how an ethnographic approach mitigates spatial science's erasure of gay men and space. Turning the critique of distance back on my own ethnographic research I then discuss the ironic benefits of distance in geographic research. I conclude that distance in itself is neither essentially concealing nor revealing, but its implications for research must be constantly considered.

Competent or Warm? A Stereotype Content Model Approach to Understanding Perceptions of Masculine and Effeminate Gay Television Characters

2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Sink ◽  
Dana Mastro ◽  
Marko Dragojevic
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Stereotype Content Model ◽  
Content Model ◽  
Gay Male ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Stereotype Content ◽  
Television Characters ◽  
Model Approach

Invoking the stereotype content model (SCM), two studies examined how television portrayals of gay men are arrayed in terms of warmth and competence. Participants were exposed to a sitcom and asked about their perceptions of two leading gay male characters. Results suggest that effeminate portrayals are more stereotypical, warmer, and less competent than masculine gay characters, yet these characterizations did not differ in terms of perceived valence. This novel application of the SCM helps to more explicitly define stereotypicality in the context of televised portrayals of gay men and demonstrates the utility of the model in advancing media studies of stereotypes.

“Treated neither with Respect nor with Dignity”

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-40
Author(s):  
Eithne Luibhéid
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
African Refugees ◽  
Political Model ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The U.S

In this chapter, three LGBTIQ African refugees who have been resettled to the U.S. stage performances of belonging that insist upon seemingly contradictory desires to assimilate into neoliberal capitalist social formations while simultaneously indexing critiques of these very structures of power. The chapter draws on theorizations of fantasy and subjectivity from political theory, queer theory, and performance studies to suggest that these performances of self offer an expansive political model of belonging: to self, community, and nation that might be particularly necessary in contemporary shifts in political economy in the United States. I work to contribute a queer critique to existing scholarship on the role of imagination and fantasy in studies of refugee subjectivity and agency.

scholarly journals Ethnographie und ihre Folgen für die Kulturgeographie: eine Kritik des Netzwerkkonzepts in Studien zu translokaler Mobilität

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Verne
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
History Of Anthropology ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Hermeneutic Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. The aim of this article is to show the difference between an interpretative-hermeneutic ethnographic approach deeply embedded in the history of anthropology and ethnographic methods introduced as part of a social science repertoire. Taking the classical "network" as an example, it contrasts the way this concept is generally used in studies on translocal mobility with interpretations of ethnographic research. This not only opens up critical reflections on the role of "networks" when it comes to understanding translocality as a lived experience, but also illustrates what it actually means to follow an interpretative-hermeneutic approach in which ethnographic material is seen to serve as a way to ground, question and refine abstract concepts. The article thus argues that it is through ethnographies and their inherent openness towards the field that a more enriching and creative engagement with theories and methodologies can be achieved than qualitative social science approaches usually allow for.

“Just Do It!”

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-124
Author(s):  
Sebastian Dahm
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Analytical Instrument ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Specific Knowledge ◽  
Epistemic Practices ◽  
Ethnographic Approach

Abstract In this paper I present an ethnographic approach to the research of hackerspaces. It draws upon an ethnomethodological background in order to address the role of members’ skills and knowledge. To that end, I aim for an immersive ethnographic approach in order to achieve a first-hand understanding of members’ practices. In this, I draw upon ethnomethodology as it provides a rich theoretical and methodological background for the study of skill and knowledge, namely the call for practical knowledge as an analytical instrument (Garfinkel 2006). In order to fully understand the implications of social movements like hacking and making communities, appropriate research methods are called for. Ethnomethodology, with its tradition in the analysis of epistemic practices and embodied knowledge, can provide the means for a more immersive and reflexive ethnography. By using materials of my own ethnography, I demonstrate how active engagement with members’ practices can provide for a deeper ethnographic understanding. In order to overcome the challenges of the field, I chose to adopt a project of coding myself. This acquisition of field-specific knowledge proved to be not only a valuable resource for the ongoing fieldwork but could offer important analytical insights in itself. I will show that important facets of members’ meanings were accessible only through personal experience. I suggest a broader adoption of ethnomethodological principles in ethnographic research of hackerspaces as it accommodates the underlying affinity towards experimentation prevalent in the field.

scholarly journals Heteronormativity and the (re)construction of gay male entrepreneurial identities

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 671-688
Author(s):  
Nick Rumens ◽  
Mustafa B Ozturk
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gay Men ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Family Type ◽  
The Core ◽  
Gay Male ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Male Sexualities

This article explores how heteronormativity shapes the (re)construction of gay male entrepreneurial identities. Drawing on in-depth interview data and utilising conceptual resources from queer theory, this article traces the effects of heteronormative entrepreneurial discourses, evident in the types of gay male sexualities discursively mobilised by study participants to (re)construct normal gay male entrepreneurial identities. Study data reveal the regulatory and normalising impact of heteronormativity along three discursive themes: entrepreneurial gay masculine identities; the entrepreneurial (gay) ‘family type guy’; and repudiating the feminine in women and other gay men. This article contributes to the limited LGBT entrepreneurship literature, in particular, the scholarship on heteronormativity and entrepreneurial identities, showing how heteronormativity retrenches both the heterosexual/homosexual binary and the male norm at the core of dominant entrepreneurial discourses.

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