Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity by Jose Esteban Munoz, Paperback, 9780814757284 | Buy online at The Nile
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Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity

The Then and There of Queer Futurity

Author: Jose Esteban Munoz   Series: Sexual Cultures (Paperback)

Paperback

The LGBT agenda has been dominated by pragmatic issues like same-sex marriage and gays in the military. This book contends that queerness is instead a futurity bound phenomenon, a 'not yet here' that critically engages pragmatic presentism.

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Summary

The LGBT agenda has been dominated by pragmatic issues like same-sex marriage and gays in the military. This book contends that queerness is instead a futurity bound phenomenon, a 'not yet here' that critically engages pragmatic presentism.

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Description

The LGBT agenda for too long has been dominated by pragmatic issues like same-sex marriage and gays in the military. It has been stifled by this myopic focus on the present, which is short-sighted and assimilationist.

Cruising Utopia seeks to break the present stagnancy by cruising ahead. Drawing on the work of Ernst Bloch, Jose Esteban Munoz recalls the queer past for guidance in presaging its future. He considers the work of seminal artists and writers such as Andy Warhol, LeRoi Jones, Frank O'Hara, Ray Johnson, Fred Herko, Samuel Delany, and Elizabeth Bishop, alongside contemporary performance and visual artists like Dynasty Handbag, My Barbarian, Luke Dowd, Tony Just, and Kevin McCarty in order to decipher the anticipatory illumination of art and its uncanny ability to open windows to the future.

In a startling repudiation of what the LGBT movement has held dear, Munoz contends that queerness is instead a futurity bound phenomenon, a "not yet here" that critically engages pragmatic presentism. Part manifesto, part love-letter to the past and the future, Cruising Utopia argues that the here and now are not enough and issues an urgent call for the revivification of the queer political imagination.

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Critic Reviews

“"Muoz takes Ernst Bloch as his Virgil as he descends into the dark woods of futurity looking for signposts along the way that will guide him to a place of hope, belonging, queerness and quirkiness. Refusing to simply sign on to the 'anti-relational,' anti-future brand of queer theory espoused by Edelman, Bersani and others, Muoz insists that for some queers, particularly for queers of color, hope is something one cannot afford to lose and for them giving up on futurity is not an option." -Judith Halberstam,author of In a Queer Time and Place”

"Brilliant, extraordinary, and necessary, Munoz's critical refusal of queer pragmatism, his commitment to the utopian force of the radical attempt - the radical aesthetic, erotic, and philosophical experiment - is indispensable in an historical moment characterized by political surrender and intellectual timidity passing itself off as boldness." Fred Moten, author of In the Break "Munoz takes Ernst Bloch as his Virgil as he descends into the dark woods of futurity looking for signposts along the way that will guide him to a place of hope, belonging, queerness and quirkiness. Refusing to simply sign on to the 'anti-relational', anti-future brand of queer theory espoused by Edelman, Bersani and others, Munoz insists that for some queers, particularly for queers of color, hope is something one cannot afford to lose and for them giving up on futurity is not an option."- Judith Halberstam, author of In a Queer Time and Place "Munoz draws on a dynamic roster of seminal artists to illustrate his vision of a utopian queer future... Queer theorists will find the book's provocative thesis stimulating." Publisher's Weekly, 28th Sept 2009

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About the Author

Munoz is assistant professor of performance studies at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

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More on this Book

The LGBT agenda for too long has been dominated by pragmatic issues like same-sex marriage and gays in the military. It has been stifled by this myopic focus on the present, which is short-sighted and assimilationist. Cruising Utopia seeks to break the present stagnancy by cruising ahead. Drawing on the work of Ernst Bloch, Jos Esteban Muoz recalls the queer past for guidance in presaging its future. He considers the work of seminal artists and writers such as Andy Warhol, LeRoi Jones, Frank O'Hara, Ray Johnson, Fred Herko, Samuel Delany, and Elizabeth Bishop, alongside contemporary performance and visual artists like Dynasty Handbag, My Barbarian, Luke Dowd, Tony Just, and Kevin McCarty in order to decipher the anticipatory illumination of art and its uncanny ability to open windows to the future. In a startling repudiation of what the LGBT movement has held dear, Muoz contends that queerness is instead a futurity bound phenomenon, a "not yet here" that critically engages pragmatic presentism. Part manifesto, part love-letter to the past and the future, Cruising Utopia argues that the here and now are not enough and issues an urgent call for the revivification of the queer political imagination.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
New York University Press
Published
30th November 2009
Pages
223
ISBN
9780814757284

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