A critical engagment ab

Spencer Ruelos
Anth 410
A Critical Engagement with Queer, Digital,
and Social Justice Anthropological Theories
As an anthropologists, my interests have tended to lie in a more critical engagement with the
concepts society, culture, power, and identity. This has mostly embodied itself as a means of utilizing
queer, digital, and social justice frameworks to my understandings and viewpoints of the world.
Below you find some of the works that I have found over the last four years that have shaped these
overarching theoretical frameworks that I use in my anthropological and ethnographic work.

The first section you will find titled ―Queer Anthropology.‖ As a gay man myself, I have been very
interested in understanding some of the social and cultural meanings tied to sex, sexuality, and
gender. I can honestly say that my interest early on in this investigation of queer anthropology was a
shallow one—I had expected to find in the readings a collection of diverse sexual and gendered
subjectivities of those in the anthropological literature that I could reference and classify as I saw fit.
Oh, the hijra in India? Yeah, that was a third gender/sex category in India that was very much tied into ritual
practices and asceticism. What I‘ve come to learn through my more critical engagement with queer
anthropology is understand the complex relations of power that various sexual and gendered
subjectivities are formed and contested. Much of this work you will see come from both the fields of
queer studies and anthropology. While these two fields have had some difficulties ‗getting along,‘ I
ultimately find their collective worth and intersections (thus, ‗queer anthropology‘) to be worthwhile
to my theoretical and anthropological self.

The second section called ―Digital and Virtual Anthropologies‖ explores my interests that lie in
digital technology, virtual embodiment, social networking, and online virtual communities. Growing
up as both a geeky gamer and a tech kid has really shaped my views on the roles of technology and
the internet in our daily lives. While I think a lot of popular discourse has discussed how we‘ve
become less intimate by becoming our digital selves, I hold fast to the viewpoint that digital media
technologies have actually deepened the ways we have meaning relationships and connections with
other humans, both locally and globally. I would argue that a common theme in the citations below
is that digital and virtual anthropologies (in the plural) extend our analysis of culture, society, and
what it means to be human to the more recent online virtual spaces. Thus, I value the perspective of
looking at virtual and digital settings as illustrative of many ways that we are human.

The final section is called ―Social Justice and Transformation‖ and traces my theoretical and activist
interests in social movements, anti-oppression visions, and activist research work for social justice.
Part of these interests stem from my position as a queer-identified cisgender man and my
engagement in the department of Critical Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. But that isn‘t to say
these interests aren‘t anthropological! Much of this critical perspective has given me a understanding
of the social and cultural processes that inform understandings of race, gender, sexuality, class,
(dis)ability, national identity, and the like. One especially transformative insight from this has been
my interest in a critical understanding of the prison system—the prison industrial complex. In all of
these questions of social justice and sociocultural transformation, critical anthropology and
ethnographic methods become useful tools for delving further into the discussion. Thus, while many
of these citations do not come from anthropologists per se, they come together to ultimately inform
how I envision doing activist/engaged anthropological work in order to combat systems of
oppression and to create and envision a better world for future.

Collectively, the list below illustrates both my theoretical and activist research interests within and
beyond anthropology. Though not necessarily disciplines that have immediate overlap, taken
together these three themes work to really paint a vivid picture of my continued engagement with
anthropological research and my perspectives on issues such as society, culture, power, and identity.

Annotated Bibliography Ruelos 2
Queer Anthropology
Alexander, M. Jacqui. 2005. ―Imperial Desire/Sexual Utopias: White Gay Capital and Transnational
Tourism.‖ Pedagogies of Crossing: Meditiations on Feminism, Sexual Politics, Memory, and the Sacred.
Duke University: 2005.
Alexander‘s work was pivotal for my literature review on transnational queer tourism by illustrating
the ways in which travelers position themselves in neocolonial terms and erotically exotify those
queers in the destination countries they visit. Her analysis of the reification of colonial desires by the
mainstream gay and lesbian niche market has been a key insight that I‘ve taken with me.

Blackwood, Evelyn. 2002 "Reading Sexualities across Cultures: Anthropology and Theories of
Sexuality." Out in Theory: The Emergence of Lesbian and Gay Anthropology. E. Lewin and W. Leap,
eds. University of Illinois Press: 2002.
Blackwood‘s piece traces some of the anthropological approaches in the 70s and 80s to theorize
female same-sex sexual relations. What I find most useful is her critical engagement with the
representation of same-sex relations between women in various cultures. Near the end of her piece,
she briefly touches upon the postmodern and queer theoretical approaches, which mark a shift in
theories concerning power, identity, and subjectivity.

Boellstorff, Tom. 2005. The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and Nation in Indonesia. Princeton University
Press.
Boellstorff‘s pivotal inquiry into the lives of gay and lesbi Indonesians sheds light on the intersections
of gender, sexuality, and national identity. He brings together a complex understanding that
acknowledges the contradictions and conflicting subjectivities and cultural logics that shape
understanding of these Indonesians. Ultimately, his monograph sheds light on a postcolonial queer
anthropology that is useful for those of us intersected in those theoretical engagements.

*Boellstorff, Tom. 2007. "Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology." Annual Review of
Anthropology. 36: 17-35.
In this review, Boellstorff marks some of the contemporary trends in queer anthropology since
1993. It focuses on the debates in queer anthropology and the shifts to looking at women‘s same-sex
desires and transgender experiences while incorporating a discussion of the uses of history,
geography, and linguistics to the field of queer anthropology.

Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Theatre Arts Books.

Butler‘s work has become foundational for queer studies and feminism. What is especially insightful
is her analysis of gender as something that is performative rather than some essential to someone‘s
core being.

El Menyawi, H. 2006. ―Activism from the Closet: Gay Rights Strategising in Egypt.‖ Melborne Journal
of International Law. 7: 28.
El Menyawi examines the politics of the Egyptian government to illustrate the ways in which the
classical Stonewall technique to liberation (esp. coming out and organizing) should not be heralded
as the lone method to achieving liberation. He complicates the notion of the ‗coming out,‘ which I

find especially useful for understanding the political and social contexts for various forms of
activism and resistance

Foucault, Michel. 1972. History of Sexuality, Volume 1. Penguin Books.
Another foundational text in queer theory, feminism, and critical social theory, Foucault illustrates
the ways in which power produces subjectivities through the creation of discourses. This
understanding of subjectivity as something which is no coherent, individual, or internal has been
especially useful for those examining queer subjectivities across the globe.

Jagose, Annarmarie. 1996. Queer Theory: An Introduction. New York University Press.
Jagose‘s work traces the historical context for understanding queer theory as well as the academic
emergence of the field of queer studies. Her attention to detail in depicting the history and
movement of queer is useful beginning for conversations about what it means and how it‘s used by
those in various fields

Katz, Jonathon. 2007. The Invention of Heterosexuality. University of Chicago Press.
Katz‘s work shows the historical and contextual meanings of the term ‗heterosexual,‘ arguing that it
is a modern invention that has had shifting meanings dependent on the historical and social context.
His queer analysis of showing the instability of both the categories of ‗heterosexual‘ and
‗homosexual‘ is what I find pivotal. A big question that resonates is how are identity categories are
contested and contextual so that we can understand how they are normalized?

Newton, Esther. 1993. ―My Best Informant‘s Dress: The Erotic Equation in Fieldwork.‖ Margaret
Mead Made Me Gay. Duke University: 2000.
Newton‘s work is often classified as the beginning work and texts that articulate a ‗queer
anthropology.‘ In this piece, Newton reflects on her work on urban drag queens and looks at the
politics of being involved in sexual relations with one‘s informants. She looks at some of the existing
literature and argues that while it can be dangerous, it is an important conversation to have especially
when you‘re researching sexuality and sexual minorities.

Rubin, Gayle. 1993. ―Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of Politics of Sexuality.‖ Deviations:
A Gayle Rubin Reader. Duke University: 2011.
This piece was a pivotal turn in both queer studies and feminist theory, where Rubin articulates an
argument that a feminist analysis solely on gender cannot provide a complex understanding for
sexuality. Rubin also is the theorist to term the ―sex/gender system,‖ articulating that though the
two may be tied, we should not conflate the concepts of ‗sex‘ and ‗gender‘ and we should recognize
what gets demonized and rendered deviant from such socially constructed norms like
heterosexuality.

Valentine, David. 2002. ―We‘re ‗Not about Gender‘: The Uses of Transgender.‖ Out in Theory: The
Emergence of Lesbian and Gay Anthropology. Lewin and Leap, eds. University of Illinois Press:
2002.
Valentine‘s works talks about the complexities of the term ‗transgender.‘ His ethnographic research
focuses on the political emergence for the category, ultimately arguing that queer anthropology

reflect on the ways it utilizes terms and categories. His acknowledgement of the social and political
specificity is what I find especially useful.

Weston, Kath. 1997. Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, and Kinship. Columbia University Press.
Weston‘s work analyzes the ways in which gays and lesbians negotiate the concept of family. What I
find especially useful is her analysis of the ways in which family is not something which is necessarily
biologically constructed, bur rather the meanings given to family by those in intimate relationships.
Thus family as a social construct for gays and lesbians to reclaim becomes a powerful act of both
resistance and community-making.

*Weston, Kath. 1993. ―Lesbian/Gay Studies in the House of Anthropology.‖ Annual Review of
Anthropology: 22, 339-367.
Weston‘s review focuses on the emergence of gay and lesbian issues in anthropology up until 1993.
She argues that issues of sexual orientation and sexual marginalization have had a rightful place in
anthropology. Thus, Weston‘s purpose is to simultaneously discuss the history of gay and lesbian
studies in anthropology while also urging writers to continue the recent inquiries into anthropology
of sexuality and gender.

Wekker, Gloria. 2006. The Politics of Passion: Women’s Sexual Culture in Afro-Surinamese Diaspora.
Columbia University Press.
Wekker examines the postcolonial context for women‘s same-sex sexual culture in Suriname and the
Netherlands. She analyzes the complex ways in which religion, culture, political economy, and
history play a dynamic role in shaping these women‘s sexual subjectivity. It is this complex and
situated analysis that I highly appreciate.

Digital and Virtual Anthropologies

Boellstorff, Tom. 2008. Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human.
Princeton University Press.
The first of its kind, Coming of Age in Second Life illustrates the work of an anthropologist investigating
virtual worlds in order to get an understanding of what it means to be human. One critical insight I
take from this piece is the understanding that research on virtual worlds can ―be on its own.‖ What
this means is that one doesn‘t have to worrying about connecting analysis back to the physical world
and that ethnographic methods work virtual and online settings.

Boellstorff, Tom et al. 2012. Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook. Princeton University Press.
In this handbook on ethnographic field methods Boellstorff Nardi, Pierce, and Taylor work together
to articulate a set of methods for undertaking ethnographic projects of virtual worlds. Continuing
Boellstorff‘s work above, they continue to articulate the ways in which anthropology has much to
offer in regards to an understanding of digital and virtual worlds and communities.

boyd, danah. 2010. "Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances,

Dynamics, and Implications." Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on

Social Network Sites. Ed. Zizi Papacharissi: 39-58.

boyd‘s article categorizes social networking sites as networked publics and give classificatory for
such sites. Her analysis of the ways in which media technologies allow us this utilize new digital and
virtual spaces in order to relate and network with others. In this piece, she tackles the concept of
context collapse and invisible audiences, which are innovative theories for understanding social
communication on SNS.

boyd, danah and Nicole Ellison. 2010. Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and
Scholarship. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 38(3): 16.
The authors give the definition, historical contexts, and current review of the literature for social
networking sites. This becomes especially useful for contextualizing my current research on the SNS
and virtual community of GaymerConnect.

Gershon, Ilana. 2010. "Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Media Switching and Media Ideologies." Journal
of Linguistic Anthropology 20 (2): 389–405.
Gershon looks at the ways in which media technologies shape the way that we communicate
through a case study of breaking up via mobile phones. She ultimately argues that media ideologies
shape how we act and behavior, a useful theoretical lens for any digital and virtual anthropologist.

Miller, Daniel. 2011. Tales from Facebook. Polity Press.
Miller examines the ways in which Trinidadians use Facebook. However, what is especially useful is
his anthropological analysis of media sites like Facebook for various communities. For example, one
of his innovative theoretical analyses is a view of Facebook as a meta-friend to those who use it.

Miller, Daniel and Heather Horst. 2012. ―The Digital and the Human: A Prospectus for Digital
Anthropology.‖ Digital Anthropology. Eds. Heather Horst and Daniel Miller. Berg Publishers:
London.
In this introduction to their edited anthology, Miller and Horst lay out the theoretical and
methodological foundations for digital anthropology, including its scope and standing. Since digital
anthropology is such a relatively young paradigm, this text is crucial for understanding what it means
to be doing digital ethnographic work. It examines the complex relations between the digital and the
human as a means to understanding communication and relations online and with technology.

Ong, Walter. 1996. "Information and/or Communication: Interactions.‖ An Ong Reader. 2002.
Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press Inc.: 505–525.
In this piece, Ong makes the theoretical claim that when technology changes, human relationship
and though patterns change. What I find most insightful that, anthropologically speaking, there is an
important relationship to recognize between people and technology.

Wesch, Michael. 2008. ―An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube.‖ mwesch. YouTubeVideo.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU>.
In this video presentation at the library of Congress, Wesch articulates a complex analysis of
community building in YouTube members. Echoing Ong‘s analysis, what becomes powerful here is
his analysis that when media change, human relations change. He also touches upon the various
ways that the community create both positive and negative bonds, which is especially useful for my
current research as well.


Social Justice and Transformation
Arkles, Gabriel. 2009. "Safety and Solidarity Across Gender Lines: Rethinking Segregation of
Transgender People in Detention." Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review 18.2: 515.
Arkles articulates a critical examination of the prison industrial complex as it relates to trans and
gender-non-conforming individuals. He makes a cogent argument that the prison system itself
perpetuates systems of violence and coercion regarding racial, sexual, classed, disabled, and gendered
minorities. His critical perspective is one of the reasons I consider myself a prison abolitionist and
have thought about conducting research regarding people in prison.

Bassichis, Morgan et al. 2011. ―Building an Abolitionist Trans and Queer Movement with
Everything We‘ve Got.‖ Captive Genders. Eds. Erix Stanley and Nat Smith. 2011. AK Press:
15–40.
Bassichis, Lee, and Spade historicize the radical queer and trans social movements in order to
illustrate importance of recognizing the damages of the prison industrial complex and to dismantle
it. Utilizing quite a few examples of the way various movements have responded to governmental
policies and practices, the chapter highlights some very useful queer perspectives on issues including
the PIC.

Davis, Angela. 2003. Are Prisons Obsolete? Open Media.
Davis work looks at the intersections of race and gender in the criminalization and surveillance of
communities that are incarcerated. Her text articulates an abolitionist perspective to prisons, which
has very much informed not only my social justice and activist self, but informs my critical
understanding of the ways society policies racialized, gendered, and sexual minorities in the US.

McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Race, Class, and Gender in the
United States: An Integrated Study (Eighth ed.). Ed. Paula Rothenberg. 1988: 165-169.
McIntosh discusses the concept of white privilege as unearned benefits that one receives from
society. She uses the metaphor of a knapsack, which carries the tools that those with privilege have
while also making a list of her privileges as a heterosexual white female. This article sticks with me
both epistemically and methodologically, reminding me to check my privilege and to recognize my
positionality in any situation.

Sandoval, Chela. 1991 "US Third World Feminism: The Theory and Method of Oppositional
Consciousness in the Postmodern World." Genders 10:1-24.
Sandoval articulates the various methods of oppositional consciousness: equal rights, revolutionary,
separatist, and supremacist approaches. Ultimately Sandoval argues that women of color in the US
have had to utilize all of these strategies (rather than canonizing one and demonizing the rest)
because of their complex social position. It is differential consciousness, utilizing the four of these as
they see fit to your current contextual positions, that really informs my own conceptualization of
social movement tactics and strategies for social transformation

Sociological Images. Founders Lisa Wade and Gwen Sharp. <http://thesocietypages.org/socimages>.

This blog seeks to provide a sociological (and very anthropological as well) understanding for
viewing the world. Its goal is to provide a critical analysis of popular culture and public discourse in
order to both deconstruct social processes, mechanisms, and systems of inequality and envision
positive and healthy alternatives. Its social justice lens is why I find it useful for critically engaging
with representations and systems of power and privilege in very contemporary framework.

A critical engagment ab

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