Description
Book SynopsisWinner, LGBT Studies Lammy Award presented by Lambda Literary
Neither queer theory nor queer activism has fully reckoned with the role of race in the emergence of the modern gay subject. In A Taste for Brown Bodies, Hiram Pérez traces the development of gay modernity and its continued romanticization of the brown body. Focusing in particular on three figures with elusive queer historiesthe sailor, the soldier, and the cowboy Pérez unpacks how each has been memorialized and desired for their heroic masculinity while at the same time functioning as agents for the expansion of the US borders and neocolonial zones of influence.
Describing an enduring homonationalism dating to the birth of the homosexual in the late 19th century, Pérez considers not only how US imperialist expansion was realized, but also how it was visualized for and through gay men. By means of an analysis of literature, film, and photographs from the 19th to the 21st centuriesincluding Herman Melville's Bil
Trade Review
Perezs highly sophisticated study gives nuance not only to queer studies but also to critical race theory and American studies. Surely,A Taste for Brown Bodieswill transform our reading methods to redefine future scholarship in our field. * Men and Masculinities *
Perez offers a provocative study that identifies connections between modern gay identity, sexual desire, US imperialism, and national identity. * Choice *
Tracing the homoerotic archetypes of sailor, cowboy, and soldier, he offers close readings ofBilly BuddandBrokeback Mountainand uses James BaldwinsGoing to Meet the Manto parse images from Abu Ghraib, prodding readers toward a deeper, sometimes uncomfortable understanding of cultural context, colonialism, and complicity. * Chronogram Magazine *
Pérez argues that despite queer studies’ avowed dedication to liberation politics, it remains “susceptible to ...a racial unconscious shaped by nation, empire, and the dispositions of global capitalism”… Pérez’s important book offers an unexpected perspective on queer studies, critiquing it for its unexamined imperialist investments rather than simply celebrating it based on an intuitive assumption about queer theory’s radical potential. Readers should not, however, take Pérez’s critique as an attack on queer theory. Baldwin once said that it was out of his love for America that he insisted on the right to critique; Pérez’s book seems to be written in a similar spirit of critique and love. He writes in the service of “contemporary antiracist queer politics,” and as he argues, without a thorough examination of queer theory’s racial unconscious, the field “remains imperiled” (17). -- American Literature
A compelling contribution to the pivotal turn in queer studies toward a critique of still-emergent forms of homo-normativities. With dazzling close readings of diverse texts, such as James Baldwins 'Going to Meet the Man,' alongside an equally bracing collection of visual texts, Hiram Pérezs book is an impressive critical and analytical performance. Absorbingly written, it never loses sight of the urgency of its core claims and the work that a critically committed queer studies must continue to do. -- Ricardo L. Ortiz,author of Cultural Erotics in Cuban America
A Taste for Brown Bodiesis a crucial and groundbreaking study that throws new light on the interplay of cosmopolitanism and homosexuality. Its stunning historical depth and engagement with the promises and limitations of queer theory make it essential reading for scholars of critical ethnic and queer studies. With gorgeous prose and unflinching arguments, this book is sure to incite intense debate, ruffle the right feathers, and move us beyond the impasse that equates race politics with knee-jerk identity politics. -- Richard T. Rodriguez,author of Next of Kin: The Family in Chicano/a Cultural Politics
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. The Queer Afterlife of Billy Budd 25 2. "Going to Meet the Man" in Abu Ghraib 49 3. The Global Taste for Queer 77 4. You Can Have My Brown Body and Eat It, Too! 97 5. Gay Cowboys Close to Home 125 Notes 153 Bibliography 163 Index 169 About the Author 1
