A House of Prayer for All People (Paperback)

David K. Seitz

ISBN 10: 1517902142 / ISBN 13: 9781517902148

Published by University of Minnesota Press, Minnesota, 2017

About this Item

Paperback. David K. Seitz maps the affective dimensions ofthe politics of citizenship at one large LGBT church, focusing on debates onrace and gender in religious leadership, activism around policeminorityrelations, outreach to LGBT Christians transnationally, and advocacy for asylumseekers. Through cultural geography, queer of color critique, psychoanalysis,and affect theory, he stages reparative encounters with citizenship andreligion. Contesting Citizenship in a Queer Church. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781517902148

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A House of Prayer for All People (Paperback)
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, Minnesota
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1517902142
• ISBN 13: 9781517902148
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 3rd Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Perhaps an unlikely subject for an ethnographic case study, the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto in Canada is a large predominantly LGBT church with a robust, and at times fraught, history of advocacy. While the church is often riddled with fault lines and contradictions, its queer and faith-based emphasis on shared vulnerability leads it to engage in radical solidarity with asylum-seekers, pointing to the work of affect in radical, coalition politics. 

A House of Prayer for All People maps the affective dimensions of the politics of citizenship at this church. For nearly three years, David K. Seitz regularly attended services at MCCT. He paid special attention to how community and citizenship are formed in a primarily queer Christian organization, focusing on four contemporary struggles: debates on race and gender in religious leadership, activism around police–minority relations, outreach to LGBT Christians transnationally, and advocacy for asylum seekers. Engaging in debates in cultural geography, queer of color critique, psychoanalysis, and affect theory, A House of Prayer for All People stages innovative, reparative encounters with citizenship and religion. 

Building on queer theory’s rich history of “subjectless” critique, Seitz calls for an “improper” queer citizenship—one that refuses liberal identity politics or national territory as the ethical horizon for sympathy, solidarity, rights, redistribution, or intimacy. Improper queer citizenship, he suggests, depends not only on “good politics” but also on people’s capacity for empathy, integration, and repair.

About the Author

David K. Seitz is assistant professor of cultural geography at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California.