With so much affect percolating in the public discourse around the recent spate of gay teen suicides, what can an academic teach-in offer vis-à-vis these events? This Periscope dossier features an eclectic collection of essays, blogs, position papers, and op-eds from a multidisciplinary group of scholars zeroing in on a spectrum of issues, from gay rage and new technologies of sexuality to anti-bullying legislation. It organizes a kind of online teach-in, a portal to the multiple conversations and action happening around the country about gay teen suicide.
Archives: Periscope Articles
Periscope articles and content
Ecologies of Sex, Sensation, and Slow Death
jasbir puar
There are many things lost in the naming of a death as a “gay youth suicide.” I want to focus on two aspects of this naming: one, what is contained in the category of sexuality and two, what … Continue reading “Ecologies of Sex, Sensation, and Slow Death”
Making It Better in the Classroom: Pedagogical Reflections
Ann Pellegrini
I have been teaching a lecture class on “Religion, Sexuality, and American Public Life” at New York University since 2004. I love teaching this class. The students (the class size is usually capped at 60) are uniformly engaged and … Continue reading “Making It Better in the Classroom: Pedagogical Reflections”
It Gets Worse…
jack halberstamAt bullybloggers, the blogging site that Lisa Duggan, Jose Munoz and Tavia Nyong’o and I sometimes call our internet home, we believe in bullies. No, not those kinds of bullies, not Tennessee Williams’s no-necked monsters, the brutish boys who … Continue reading “It Gets Worse…”
Gay Rage
joon oluchi leeSuicide is an act of violence. Most of the recent spate of suicides committed by young gay men have been attributed to homophobic bullying. But killing oneself is not necessarily an act of fear and escape. The one who … Continue reading “Gay Rage”
Looking Through and At the Media Treatment of LGBTQ Youth
lynne joyrichIt is difficult but nonetheless urgent for all of us who engage with or impact young people in various ways to respond to the many terrible events of the last several weeks: the devastating spate of LBGTQ teen suicides, … Continue reading “Looking Through and At the Media Treatment of LGBTQ Youth”
Bridging Feminist / Queer Theory and Practice
gail coheeAt this point in my career I find myself situated in two different worlds of the university: I teach for gender and sexuality studies (my course at the moment is called “Bodies Out of Bounds”), and I co-edit a … Continue reading “Bridging Feminist / Queer Theory and Practice”
No Kid Play
eng-beng lim
Of the many questions raised in the academy as well as the blogosphere, one stands out for its poignancy and compassion: are we as a society capable of loving queer kids? Artist David Wojnarowicz’s 1990 image, Untitled (One Day … Continue reading “No Kid Play”
Impact: an Introduction
Tariq JazeelThe new system for assessing the quality of research produced by institutions of higher education in the UK and the academics they employ will be known as the “Research Excellence Framework” (REF). Replacing the “Research Assessment Exercise” (RAE), the inaugural … Continue reading “Impact: an Introduction”
The Real Knowledge Transfer
stefano harneyIn Britain, knowledge transfer (KT) is taking a new turn. As a university policy, KT emphasized intellectual property rights. The dream of the managers of the university was to patent knowledge produced in university departments, laboratories, and lecture halls. This … Continue reading “The Real Knowledge Transfer”
The Impact of "Impact"
ananya jahanara kabirReading a grant application for a Danish research project that I participate in, the following sentence caught my eye: “[A]pplicability is desirable, but not a demand. Grundforschung is the main aim.” Taking “applicability” to be roughly equivalent to “impact,” the … Continue reading “The Impact of "Impact"”
The Curious and the Useful
richard phillips
Should scholars and scientists concentrate on being useful, or should they be guided primarily by curiosity? This stark choice — between usefulness and curiosity — has been mobilised implicitly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in recent … Continue reading “The Curious and the Useful”
'Creative' Functionalism and Continental Philosophy at Middlesex
paula gilligan
On May 10, 2010, the management of Middlesex University in England shut down its Philosophy Department. This act provoked a spate of letters in the newspapers. Now, while the general attack on the Humanities in the United Kingdom has been going … Continue reading “'Creative' Functionalism and Continental Philosophy at Middlesex”
Deepwater Impact
stephen shapiro
The simple fact that we are discussing “impact” proposals on the humanities and social sciences indicates a depressing failure of “impact” itself. Long after the contemporary academy has become bored with Foucauldian critiques of social control through assessment and quantitative … Continue reading “Deepwater Impact”
Academic Free Fall
neil smithWhen I left Britain in the 1970s to pursue a doctorate in the US, it was an item of faith that US universities were far more corporatized than their UK counterparts, in the social sciences as well as the natural … Continue reading “Academic Free Fall”