Sex, Time and Place: Queer Histories of London, c.1850 to the Present

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Description

Sex, Time and Place extensively widens the scope of what we might mean by queer London studies. Incorporating multidisciplinary perspectives including social history, cultural geography, visual culture, literary representation, ethnography and social studies this collection asks new questions, widens debates and opens new subject terrain. Featuring essays from an international range of established scholars and emergent voices, the collection is a timely contribution to this growing field. Its essays cover topics such as activist and radical communities and groups, AIDS and the city, art and literature, digital archives and technology, drag and performativity, lesbian Londons, notions of bohemianism and deviancy, sex reform and research and queer Black history. Going further than the existing literature on Queer London which focuses principally on the experiences of white gay men in a limited time frame, Sex, Time and Place reflects the current state of this growing and important field of study. It will be of great value to scholars, students and general readers who have an interest in queer history, London studies, cultural geography, visual cultures and literary criticism.

Reviews

One of the strengths of this book is that it opens up fresh and inclusive ways of regarding every city and every village. * Morning Star *
[The contributions] open doors on to a half-forgotten and obscured aspect of human history. It is the stories and voices of individual men and women from different geographies and chronologies that lift the narratives and highlight the challenges, dangers and joys of gay lives in the not-so-very distant past. * History Today *
Sex, Time and Place marks a truly significant addition to the growing body of literature on Londons queer past and present. Drag histories, AIDS, sexual geographies, visual studies, literary history, sexology an impressive and engaging range of material is brought together by the editors, providing a number of ways into thinking about queer London since the 19th century. Some figures we know already but think about in fresh ways, while other less known figures from the past are given their due. Written in compelling prose, this is a volume to which Ill return often and which Ill recommend frequently. * Mark W. Turner, King's College London, UK *
The unwieldy, cosmopolitan queerness that is London seeps out of the pages of this vibrant collection of essays at every turn. Avery and Graham have assembled a diverse team of scholars who have mapped various practices of queer London over the past century and a half with both skill and passion. From the London haunts of queer artists in the nineteenth century to the fictional mappings of queer London in the twentieth, from the past spaces of queer self-fashioning to the virtual queer communities of present-day London, the essays in this volume highlight the latest interdisciplinary approaches to the study of urban queer life. Showcasing new ways of seeing and imagining the queer metropolis, Sex, Time and Place is a must. * Chris Waters, Williams College, USA *
This is an absolutely splendid collection of essays that explores the history of queer London in all its class, ethnic and gender diversity. Spanning a range of disciplines, this book represents the best of queer scholarship and is studded with some wonderful gems of untold stories. Its groundedness in Londons queer past provides a solid framework, too, for understanding our contemporary communities and our current trajectories. * Alison Oram, Leeds Beckett University, UK *

Author Bio

Simon Avery is Reader in Modern Literature and Culture and Co-director of the Queer London Research Forum at the University of Westminster, UK. Katherine M. Graham is Visiting Lecturer and Co-director of the Queer London Research Forum at the University of Westminster, UK.