Queer Objects

2020 Choice​ Outstanding Academic Title

Queer lives give rise to a vast array of objects: the things we fill our houses with, the gifts we share with our friends, the commodities we consume at work and at play, the clothes and accessories we wear, various reminders of state power, as well as the analogue and digital technologies we use to communicate with one another. But what makes an object queer?

The sixty-three chapters in Queer Objects consider this question in relation to lesbian, gay and transgender communities across time, cultures, and space. In this unique international collaboration, well-known and newer writers traverse world history to write about fabulous, captivating, and transgressive items ranging from ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and Roman artefacts to political placards, snapshots, sex toys, and the smartphone.
 

CHRIS BRICKELL is a professor of gender studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. His books include Mates and Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand, Manly Affections: The Photographs of Robert Gant, 1885–1915, and Teenagers: The Rise of Youth Culture.

JUDITH COLLARD is a senior lecturer in the department of history and art history at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.