Queer Cultures

Rating:
Summary: Not even that good for newcomers
Review: As a graduate student, I've found Queer Cultures to be more than a little frustrating. Although we can all benefit from (re)assessing just what queer theory is and its origins in history, Queer Cultures never seems to get beyond these issues. The first two chapters are clearly devoted to such topics and subsequent essays tend to also move through their own formulation of queer at length. Consequently, it looks as if some of the theory itself gets short changed. Readers should also know that a good portion of the text is dominated by the history of queer activism but that the editors fail to include a survey of the most influential theorists, theories, and trends in queer theory, which would have been particularly useful for a book designed for newcomers to the subject.
While most anthologies provide information on the authors covered and their place in past or ongoing discourses this volume fails to do so. Information on publication is available but is included at the end of the book and is quite difficult to find for a student wanting to know the year of publication. The lack of contextualization makes it difficult for the reader to place the essays on a continually developing map of queer theory, studies, and history.
Such stress is placed on making this book appeal to a wide readership that the selections look as if they were made haphazardly. Alexander Doty, David Halperin, and Judith Butler are in the same text as Lisa Walter. Don't know who she is? Well that's because it's a poorly written personal narrative from an undergraduate student. Carlin and DiGrazia have leveled the textual playing field and I don't mean that as a good thing.
Furthermore, the editors have no voice in this text. While they do write brief, and I stress brief, introductions to each chapter they fail to actually discuss, explicate, explore, or contextualize any specific essay let alone all of those in one section. The introductions to the chapters are more like notes on that chapters theme than anything else.
The questions and exercises included at the end of each essay are pedestrian and sophomoric.
There are, however, some truly wonderful pieces included in the volume. One particularly striking piece by Amber Hollibaugh beautifully mixes personal narrative with high theory to discuss non-normative desire and the, at times, repressive nature of queer culture itself. And I've already mentioned that some of the important names in queer theory (Doty, Halperin, and Butler) are included (though the editors NEVER touch on the contributions of these theorists to a larger body of queer theory and knowledge).
While most of the essays presented don't manage or even claim to answer all of the questions they raise they at least remind us that work still needs to be done and point the way for future inquiry. However, the instructor would be better advised to choose several smaller volumes rather than this anthology and the enthusiast might want to do the same.

Rating:
Summary: Entering a Queer Culture
Review: As a newcomer into the rhelm of queer theory and also as a graduate student, I found this book highly interesting, sparking many topics useful for analysis,like Judith Butler, and controversy, like Gayle Rubin. Most of the essays captured the readers attention and urged for outside investigation for newcomers on issues like Stonewall, AIDS, and ACT UP. Adequate background information was given about queer cultures in general allowing ample understanding of such texts. While reading certain essays, though, there was a struggle to try and relate them to the rest of the text.