Passing: Identity and Interpretation in Sexuality, Race, and Religion

Passing for what you are not--whether it is mulattos passing as white, Jews passing as Christian, or drag queens passing as women--can be a method of protection or self-defense. But it can also be a uniquely pleasurable experience, one that trades on the erotics of secrecy and revelation. It is precisely passing's radical playfulness, the way it asks us to reconsider our assumptions and forces our most cherished fantasies of identity to self-destruct, that is centrally addressed in Passing: Identity and Interpretation in Sexuality, Race, and Religion.
Identity in Western culture is largely structured around visibility, whether in the service of science (Victorian physiognomy), psychoanalysis (Lacan's mirror stage), or philosophy (the Panopticon). As such, it is charged with anxieties regarding classification and social demarcation. Passing wreaks havoc with accepted systems of social recognition and cultural intelligibility, blurring the carefully-marked lines of race, gender, and class.
Bringing together theories of passing across a host of disciplines--from critical race theory and lesbian and gay studies, to literary theory and religious studies--Passing complicates our current understanding of the visual and categories of identity.
Contributors: Michael Bronski, Karen McCarthy Brown, Bradley Epps, Judith Halberstam, Peter Hitchcock, Daniel Itzkovitz, Patrick O'Malley, Miriam Peskowitz, María C. Sánchez Linda Schlossberg, and Sharon Ullman.

Author: Maria C. Sanchez
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 08/01/2001
Pages: 283
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.86lbs
Size: 9.14h x 6.24w x 0.77d
ISBN: 9780814781234

Review Citation(s):
PW Notes and Reprints 10/15/2001 pg. 62
Choice 02/01/2002 pg. 1043
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2002 pg. 112

About the Author
Sanchez, Maria C.: - Maria C. Sanchez is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University.Schlossberg, Linda: - Linda Schlossberg is Lecturer and Assistant Director of Studies for the Women's Studies Program at Harvard University.