Publisher Description

Queer lives give rise to a vast array of objects: the things we fill our houses with, the gifts we share with our friends, the commodities we consume at work and at play, the clothes and accessories we wear, and the analogue and digital technologies we use to communicate with one another. But what makes an object queer? The sixty-three chapters in Queer Objects consider this question in relation to lesbian, gay and transgender communities across time, cultures and space. In this unique international collaboration, well-known and newer writers traverse world history to write about items ranging from ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and Roman artefacts to political placards, snapshots, sex toys and the smartphone. Fabulous, captivating, transgressive. -- .

Author Biography

Chris Brickell is Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Otago
Judith Collard is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Art History at the University of Otago -- .

Table of Contents

1 The Queerness of Objects - Chris Brickell and Judith Collard
2 The First Gay Kiss? - Richard Bruce Parkinson
3 Tutanekai's Flute - Paerau Warbrick
4 Faces of Queer-Aboriginality - Dino Hodge
5 Pasting Together an Identity - Helen Pausacker
6 The Strapless Satchel - Jeffrey Vaughan
7 The Queering of Action Man - Greg Minnisale
8 Reading Two Gay Histories - Ben Anderson-Nathe
9 Fragments of Sappho - Chris Brickell
10 New World Slavery's Queer Object - Carina Pasquesi
11 Freda's Mountaineering Memoir - Chris Brickell
12 Teddy's Illustrated Letter - Rachel Hope Cleaves
13 Four Saints in Three Acts - Tirza True Latimer
14 Donald Friend's Life in Letters - Tim Roberts
15 Dear Dawn, Can I Hold You? - Lauren Britton
16 A Gay Magazine in Communist Poland - Lukasz Szulc
17 The Cunt Coloring Book - Margo Hobbs
18 Henry's Albums - Barry Reay
19 Sammy's Stud File - Barry Reay
20 The Proverbial Lavendar Dildo - Erica Rand
21 Amos' Chair - Barry Reay
22 Cruising Masculine Spaces - Judith Collard
23 The Stuff of Cruising - John Howard
24 Monuments - Peter Sherlock
25 The Warren Cup - Chris Brickell
26 Robert Gant's Shoes - Chris Brickell
27 Oscar's Photograph? - Neil Bartlett
28 Saint Sebastian - Chris Brickell
29 Tender Buttons - Jane Trengrove
30 The Paintings of Lois White - Judith Collard
31 The L Word Quilt - Amanda Littauer and Diane Johns
32 The Queen of Polka Holes - Katsuhiko Suganuma
33 Queer Dogs - Heike Bauer
34 Our Own Dear House - Bev Roberts
35 An Attic Apartment - Chris Brickell
36 The Rotary Dial Telephone - Matt Cook
37 C734 - Christopher Castiglia and Christopher Reed
38 Saint Eugenia's Relics - Robert Mills
39 A Tram Ticket, an Egyptian and an Englishman - Robert Aldrich
40 To My Friend from His Friend - Graham Willett
41The Story of a Locket - Peter Wells
42 Till We Meet Again - Jo Campbell
43 A Set of Wedding Photos - Elise Chenier
44 Carl Wittman and the AIDS Quilt - Amanda Littauer and Diane Johns
45 Exhibit A: The Powder Puff - Wayne Murdoch
46 Neil McConaghy's Penile Plethysmograph - Kate Davison
47 A Military Discharge Certificate - Shirleene Robinson
48 The Moral Majority is Neither - Timothy Willem Jones
49 Devotional Objects - Melissa M. Wilcox
50 Political Buttons - Katherine A. Hermes
51 Plastic Politics - James Burford, Kath Khangpiboon and Jutathorn Pravattiyagul
52 Bloomers and Monocles - Nikki Sullivan and Craig Middleton
53 A Lesbian Waistcoat - Nadia Gush
54 Lesbian Lipstick - Reina Lewis
55 Punk Jacket - Marcus Bunyan
56 The Australian Speedo - Yorick Smaal
57 The World's First Gay Travel Guide - Daniel Brandl-Beck
58 Keith's Slides - Chris Brickell
59 John Hunter's Make-up Box - Chris Brickell
60 The Portable Lesbian Party - Alison Oram
61 The Rangers Motorclub Flag - Tim Roberts
62 The Disco Ball and the DJ - Philip Hughes
63 Queer Smartphones - Simon Clay -- .

Review

'Queer objects delights and provokes in its expansive offering of moments, materials, images and texts that capture the presence of queer identities across time and space. Richly illustrated and exceptionally well-informed its authors bring familiar and unfamiliar subjects to life in new and exciting ways. A must for any respectable and unrespectable queer library.'
Christopher Breward, National Galleries of Scotland

'The queer angel of history has brought us from New Zealand this remarkable book of objects that have aroused memories - involuntary and voluntary, painful and uplifting, individual and communal. A deeply moving exploration of history, memory, and queerness.'
Jeffrey Escoffier, author of American Homo: Community and Perversity -- .

Review Quote

'Queer objects delights and provokes in its expansive offering of moments, materials, images and texts that capture the presence of queer identities across time and space. Richly illustrated and exceptionally well-informed its authors bring familiar and unfamiliar subjects to life in new and exciting ways. A must for any respectable and unrespectable queer library.'Christopher Breward, National Galleries of Scotland

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