David Halperin
David M. Halperin (born April 2, 1952 ) is Professor of English Literature at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor , USA , and at the School of Sociology at the University of New South Wales , Sydney , Australia .
job
Halperin works primarily in the field of historical reconstruction ("genealogy") of modern homosexuality . In particular, he focuses on the forms of sexuality in antiquity . His approach to queer theory is influenced by George Chauncey , Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Michel Foucault .
Together with co-editors Henry Abelove and Michele Aina Barale, he received the 1994 Lambda Literary Award for the anthology Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader .
How to do the History of Male Homosexuality?
Halperin understands modern homosexuality - both in the sense of a discursive object and as a sexual subjectivity - as the result of a centuries-long sedimentation process in which, in the case of male homosexuality, the following traditional paradigms of male homosociality and gender role have essentially flowed:
- Effemination (feminization, tendency to adopt feminine characteristics)
- Pederasty / sodomy (sexual intercourse between men of higher social rank with men of lower rank)
- Friendship (intense platonic relationship between two men)
- Inversion (fundamental reversal of gender role)
According to Halperin, the description of these phenomena in historical texts should not be confused with the modern concept of homosexuality, even if great similarities can sometimes be found. He turns against essentialist conceptions of a (homo-) sexuality spanning epochs and criticizes authors who pursue this approach.
Works (selection)
- Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World , 1990, ISBN 0691002215
- One Hundred Years of Homosexuality , 1990, ISBN 0415900972
- The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader , 1993 (Associate Editor ), ISBN 0415905192
- Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography , 1995, ISBN 0195093712
- How to Do the History of Homosexuality , 2002, ISBN 0226314472
- Journal: GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (co-editor)
Translations into German:
- A guide to the history of male homosexuality , in: Andreas Kraß : Que e r Denk , 2003, ISBN 3518122487
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Halperin, David |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Halperin, David M. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American literary scholar, professor of English literature |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 2, 1952 |