“Artful Concealment and Strategic Visibility” by Toby Beauchamp
“Which bodies can choose visibility and which bodies are always already visible -- perhaps even hyper-visible -- to state institutions? For whom is visibility an available political strategy, and at what cost? … Which bodies would be read under the DHS Advisory’s warning as gender deviant, dangerous or deceptive even if they did produce paperwork documenting their transgender status?” (363) “The concept of safety thus shifts: rather than protecting trans people from state violence, the organizations now focus on protecting the nation from the threatening figure of the terrorist, a figure that transgender travelers must distinguish themselves from by demonstrating their complicity in personal disclosure. Creating the figure of the safe transgender traveler necessarily entails creating and maintaining the figure of the potential terrorist, and vice versa. Because some bodies are already marked as national threats, the ability to embody the safe trans traveler is not only limited to particular bodies, but in fact requires the scapegoating of other bodies.” (364)
“Three Points Masculine” by An Owomoyela “John was in Isaac’s group. She didn’t look at me when we rounded our eight up, and I mostly ignored her. We just got in line and marched into the evacuation zone. I did notice she didn’t walk like a girl learned to, didn’t hold herself like a girl learned to. She might’ve had the GAT, but she was off.” “Given the way the rev had been going after her—well, I know how these things go. Gender assessment gets people angry, anger gets people nasty. That’s why most of us keep our dirty little secrets under our belts and our vests. Why most of us don’t go wearing a damn beard [...] “Why didn’t you just wear the goddamn dress?” I twisted around and punched him.”
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Please find the slides from class attached here:
Close Reading Paper:
Length: 2-3 pages, (typed, double-spaced in Times New Roman 12 with 1” margins). Due Date: Feb 23rd Grading: 10% of final grade Pick one or two passages from Zami, and examine these passages for the literary techniques used to convey meaning. Pay attention to imagery, metaphor, symbolism, genre-blending, references, connections with other parts of the text, syntax, diction, structure etc. Identify what Lorde is doing with language in relation to her key ideas, how she is using literary strategies to craft her biomythography, and why she makes she makes these choices. Your paper does not need to have an introduction or conclusion, but you do need to have a thesis statement about your reading of the passage. Remember that there is no one right way to read a passage. Discussion Questions:
1) In “Uses of the Erotic,” Lorde argues that “we are taught to separate the erotic demand from most vital areas of our lives other than sex.” Consider the parts of the text where the erotic emerges (especially the parts that not explicitly about sex). How do you read these parts in the light of “Uses of the Erotic”? Passage to consider: “All these transported me into a world of scent and rhythm and movement and sound that grew more and more exciting as the ingredient liquefied” (74)/ “My body felt new and special and unfamiliar and suspect all at the same time… I smelled the delicate breadfruit smell rising up from the front of my print blouse that my own womansmell, warm, shameful, but secretly utterly delicious” (77)/ “The whole rhythm of movements softened and elongated, until, dreamlike, I stood, one hand tightly curved around…” (79) 2) The home space is very important to queer cultural productions. In many queer narratives, the home is not only the site of familial trauma, or a place that needs to be escaped, but is also reclaimed as a site for community-building and chosen family. What is the function of home (in all its various meanings) in Zami? (e.g. 71, 104, 139, 150) 3) As Audre explores her sexuality, she also finds herself examining what it means to enact and perform a gay/lesbian/woman-loving identity. How does she use relationships and cultural narrative/language to understand her own identity? How do other women’s perceptions of her impact her embodiment? 4) This is not only a lesbian feminist coming-of-age narrative, but also a narrative about Lorde’s coming-of-age as a writer and poet. How do Lorde’s childhood experiences with silence inform her development as a lesbian poet? 5) What is the function of geographical place in Lorde’s biomythography? How does she experience herself differently when she moves to Mexico? Passages to consider: “It was in Mexico City those first few weeks that I started to break my life-long habit of looking down at my feet at I walked along the street. There was always so much to see…” (156)/ “It was in Mexico that I stopped feeling invisible…” (173). 6) The idea of self-preservation comes up a lot (e.g. 107, 111, 153). Why is it important to Lorde’s narrative? Audre Lorde’s Zami – Discussion Questions for part 1 (start till chapter 11):
Genre and form:
Themes and motifs:
Passages about intimacy and erotic energies for close-reading: Intimacy with the mother: “Sitting between my mother’s spread legs, her strong knees…” (32-33) Erotic play with Toni: “I began to finger the small shiny gold buttons on the front of her coat. I unbuttoned…” (38). Pleasure around food: “I loved to finger the hard roundness of the carved fruit, and the always surprising termination of the shapes…” (71) […] “Up again, down, around, and up—so the rhythm began… all these transported me into a world of scent and rhythm and movement and sound the grew more and more exciting as the ingredients liquefied” (74). Please find the slides from class attached here:
Please find attached the slides from 02/01/18
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