Suchergebnisse

Review of: Disidencia e hipernormalización: Ensayos sobre sexualidad y masculinidades, Alfredo Martínez Expósito (2021)
Barcelona: Icaria, 272 pp.,
ISBN 978-8-41882-629-0, p/bk, €22.00

The definition of the term "camp" presents various difficulties for geographical and theoretical reasons. Although it is an ubiquitous practice in Anglo homosexual cultures, it is notoriously hard to pin down from an intellectual perspective. Susan Sontag's 1964's essay, which defined camp in terms of a "sensibility" but silenced the circumstances in which that sensibility is produced, was answered, in the 1990s, by other contributions that insisted on the specifically homosexual character of camp. This article builds on these responses to articulate a concept of camp based on its specificity within pre-Stonewall homosexual cultures, understanding camp as a discourse stemming from homosexual subjectivities in the era of repression. Subjectivity is both individual and social: it is the discursive position one occupies that always occurs in a pre-existing cultural lattice. The article links the key traits of homosexual camp (theatricality, irony, incongruity, humour) to that position by reading three distinctly camp traditions (diva-centered movies, Broadway musicals, and Athletic Model Guild gay porn) in terms of how they are linked to homosexual subject positions. I propose that, if camp discourse is "political," as some 1990s authors claimed, it also challenges the idea of "politics" as a progressive struggle. Finally, the article asks whether, given similar configurations of the homosexual experience, camp occurs in other cultures, using the parallels that the concept finds in Spain; although there is inevitably a camp discourse in Spanish culture, it is articulated by different means and requires a well-theorized attention to oral manifestations of pre-liberation Spanish homosexual culture.

La definición del término «camp» presenta diversas dificultades por razones geográficas y teóricas. Aunque es una práctica frecuente en las culturas homosexuales anglosajonas, es difícil de definir desde una perspectiva intelectual. Sontag (1964) lo definió como una "sensibilidad", silenciando las circunstancias en que se produce esa sensibilidad; en los años noventa, otros autores insistieron en el carácter específicamente homosexual del discurso camp. Este artículo se basa en estas respuestas para articular un concepto de camp basado en su especificidad dentro de las culturas homosexuales pre-Stonewall, definiéndose como un discurso resultado de subjetividades homosexuales en la era de la represión. La subjetividad es a la vez individual y social: es la posición discursiva que ocupa cada uno, siempre existente en un entramado cultural anterior al individuo. El artículo explora esta idea de camp como discurso homosexual en torno a tres áreas que han producido dicho discurso: el cine de divas, el musical de Broadway y el porno gay de la Athletic Model Guild. Propongo la idea de que, si el discurso camp es «político», como se reclamaba en los noventa, también desafía la idea de «política» como lucha progresista. Finalmente, el artículo se pregunta si, dadas similares configuraciones de la experiencia homosexual, el camp se da en otras culturas, utilizando los paralelismos que el concepto encuentra en España; aunque inevitablemente hay un discurso camp en la cultura española, se articula con medios distintos y requiere una atención bien teorizada a manifestaciones orales de la cultura homosexual española anterior a la liberación. ; The definition of the term "camp" presents various difficulties for geographical and theoretical reasons. Although it is an ubiquitous practice in Anglo homosexual cultures, it is notoriously hard to pin down from an intellectual perspective. Susan Sontag's 1964's essay, which defined camp in terms of a "sensibility" but silenced the circumstances in which that sensibility is produced, was answered, in the 1990s, by other contributions that insisted on the specifically homosexual character of camp. This article builds on these responses to articulate a concept of camp based on its specificity within pre-Stonewall homosexual cultures, understanding camp as a discourse stemming from homosexual subjectivities in the era of repression. Subjectivity is both individual and social: it is the discursive position one occupies that always occurs in a pre-existing cultural lattice. The article links the key traits of homosexual camp (theatricality, irony, incongruity, humour) to that position by reading three distinctly camp traditions (diva-centered movies, Broadway musicals, and Athletic Model Guild gay porn) in terms of how they are linked to homosexual subject positions. I propose that, if camp discourse is "political," as some 1990s authors claimed, it also challenges the idea of "politics" as a progressive struggle. Finally, the article asks whether, given similar configurations of the homosexual experience, camp occurs in other cultures, using the parallels that the concept finds in Spain; although there is inevitably a camp discourse in Spanish culture, it is articulated by different means and requires a well-theorized attention to oral manifestations of pre-liberation Spanish homosexual culture.

Toward a Cultural Archive of la Movida revisits the cultural and social milieu in which la Movida, an explosion of artistic production in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Spain, was articulated discursively, aesthetically, socially, and politically. Of interest to both researchers and academics interested in Spanish culture and the processes of political and cultural transition from dictatorship and democracy through the cultural phenomenon known as la Movida, this book offers an expanded critical approach to the study of contemporary Spanish cultural studies