I wish I had time to go into more detail about the individual readings collected in this volume, rather than simply summarizing the explanatory material. But if you have any interest in finding out more about the rich history of same-sex relations on the subcontinent--especially before the colonial era--it would be worth tracking down this volume. The editors are working from within their own cultures and have personally created many of the translations included here.
LHMP
Blog entry
I've rearranged the order the next several publications come in, because this one seemed like a good one to kick off the sequence of material on Asia. I feel very self-conscious about how thoroughly Euro-centric the majority of the Project is, but at the same time, I have many of the same limitations discussed in this article. In particular, I'm largely limited to material published in English. But I've added half a dozen new items to my to-do list and maybe they'll point me towards some other useful sources.
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 85 (previously 29d) - Queen Anne - transcript
(Originally aired 2018/12/22 - listen here)
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 84 (previously 29c) - Book Appreciation with Carrie Pack - transcript
(Originally aired 2018/12/15 - listen here)
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 83 (previously 29b) - Interview with Carrie Pack - transcript
(Originally aired 2018/12/08 - listen here)
Heather Rose Jones: This month the Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast welcomes author Carrie Pack. Hi, Carrie.
Carrie Pack: Hi, nice to be here.
Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 29a - On the Shelf for December 2018 - Transcript
(Originally aired 2018/12/01 - listen here)
Welcome to On the Shelf for December 2018.
This is the article that Donoghue references with respect to possible evidence of 18th century women in Amsterdam having meeting places for engaging in same-sex activities. The evidence is fairly tenuous but at least indicates that there may have been clusters of women who came together around this shared interest. But in considering the women discussed in this article one needs to keep in mind the nature of the record.
For those who follow the Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast, you may be aware that our umbrella organization, The Lesbian Talk Show, has begun using a sponsorship (i.e., ad-insertion) service (to help cover hosting costs and other overhead). The various shows are still fine-tuning how to set up our episodes to play well with the sponsor messages. It should all run more smoothly after some minor format changes. Apologies for any unexpected listening experiences.
As I note at the beginning of this entry, I'm a bit uncertain about the viewpoint of this article. That's one of the reasons why I placed it at the end of the series on Indian topics, after several by authors working within their own cultural context. In general, I try to be careful about using sources for non-western cultures because of the colonial legacy even when western academics are studying gender and sexuality from a positive point of view.
Across many authors there’s a confusing assertion that lesbian possibilities have regularly gone from being considered impossible, to being recognized, then resulting in the demonization of demonstrations of affection. To some extent, this article deals with the reverse swing of the pendulum: how was that awareness suppressed again, such that there could be a later re-awakening of suspicion? Traub and Andreadis discuss how lesbian possibilities were identified and articulated in the 17th century, resulting in a genteel avoidance-discourse among authors like Katherine Phillips.
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