The Humanities Center will devote a special program to black queer studies on Wednesday and Thursday, March 18-19. Titled “Performing Black Masculinities and Same-Sex Desires,” the program features E. Patrick Johnson and Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., professors at Northwestern University and Washington University in St. Louis, respectively.
E. Patrick Johnson
On March 18, Johnson will present his acclaimed one-man show, “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales,” at 7 p.m. at the Community Folk Art Center (805 E. Genesee St.). The show is based on his bestselling book “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South” (University of North Carolina Press, 2008). He is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of African American Studies and Performance Studies at Northwestern.
The following day, Johnson will join McCune, associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies and of performing arts at Wash U., for a breakfast seminar on queer methodology and professionalization at 9:30 a.m. in 304 Tolley. Registration is required. To R.S.V.P., email ejrand@syr.edu.
That evening, McCune will discuss his book “Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing” (University of Chicago Press, 2014) at 5:30 p.m. in 123 Sims Hall. The book is a critical analysis of the “down-low” phenomenon, in which African American men have sex with men but maintain an outwardly heterosexual lifestyle.
Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr.
“Performing Black Masculinities and Same-Sex Desires” is co-sponsored by the departments of African American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies, the Democratizing Knowledge Collective and the Community Folk Art Center, all in the College of Arts and Sciences; the departments of history and sociology in the Maxwell School; and the Wendy H. Cohen Fund for Cultural and Artistic Enrichment, administered by the Department of Drama in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).
The program is co-presented by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program in A&S and the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies in VPA.
Events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact 315-443-1011.
