On Making Sense: Queer Race Narratives of Intelligibility

On Making Sense juxtaposes texts produced by black, Latino, and Asian queer writers and artists to understand how knowledge is acquired and produced in contexts of racial and gender oppression.

From James Baldwin's 1960s novel Another Country to Margaret Cho's turn-of-the-century stand-up comedy, these works all exhibit a preoccupation with intelligibility or the labor of making sense of oneself and of making sense to others.

In their efforts to make sense, these writers and artists argue against merely being accepted by society on society's terms but articulate a desire to confront epistemic injustice--an injustice that affects people in their capacity as knowers and as communities worthy of being known.

The book speaks directly to critical developments in feminist and queer studies, including the growing ambivalence to antirealist theories of identity and knowledge. In so doing, it draws on decolonial and realist theory to offer a new framework to understand queer writers and artists of color as dynamic social theorists.

Author: Ernesto Javier Martínez
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 10/31/2012
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780804783408

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2013

About the Author
Ernesto Javier Martínez is an Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and of Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon. He is the co-editor of Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader (2011).

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