Homosexuality versus
the Nation:
Opposition and
Negotiation
Speaker：Dr. Wei-cheng R. Chu (DFLL Assistant Professor)
（臺大外文系 朱偉誠 助理教授）
Venue：DFLL Conference Room (1st floor, Liberal Arts Building)
（臺大文學院一樓外文系會議室）
Date：Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Time：3:30 ~ 4:50 pm
Abstract:
This talk offers a theoretical analysis of the op-positionality between homosexuality and the nation by
starting with the Cold War figuration of homosexuals as Communists. It is then
paralleled with the 1930s Communist/socialist accusation of the Nazis/fascists
in turn as homosexual, in order to refute any essentialist connection between
homosexuality and either political stance. Instead, an overarching explanation
is proposed to view both cases as manifesting the same politics of othering the enemy in sexual terms, which is only
exasperated by the modern construction of the nation. This is suggested to be
the problematic context in which some well-known literary and film texts should
be read, namely by examining how they seek to negotiate this alien-(n)ation of the homosexual through
their various strategies of reinscription. The texts
discussed here include: Kiss of the Spider Woman, Hanif
Kureishi』s works in the late 1980s, and Tony
Kushner』s Angels in
Contact person: Hsiu-ting Jian 3366-3212