The Gay ‘90s: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Formations in Queer Studies

Queer theory arose as a challenge to the stability of sexual categories. But is queer theory in the 1990s in danger of becoming just another category of theoretical inquiry and just another academic discipline? As queer studies is being legitimated within American universities, what dangers and opportunities arise from the process of legitimation?

The essays in The Gay ‘90s address these questions in two distinct ways. The first section of the book, Disciplinary Reflections, reflects upon the process of disciplinary formation as it affects lesbian and gay studies in the academy, contrasting older academic disciplines with newer, identity-based areas of study. The second section, Interdisciplinary Readings, demonstrates the extent to which contemporary queer studies involves practices of interdisciplinary reading and analysis. Contributors include Dennis Allen, John Champagne, Myriam J. A. Chancy, Gabrielle N. Dean, Leigh Gilmore, Calvin Thomas, Elayne Tobin, Robyn Wiegman, and Thomas Yingling.