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eddieqbd's review
4.0
Some of my favorite essays in this collection:
QUARE” STUDIES, OR (ALMOST) EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT QUEER STUDIES I LEARNED FROM MY GRANDMOTHER by E. Patrick Johnson.
PUNKS, BULLDAGGERS, AND WELFARE QUEENS: THE RADICALPOTENTIAL OF QUEER POLITICS? by Cathy J. Cohen.
BUT SOME OF US ARE BRAVE LESBIANS:THE ABSENCE OF BLACK LESBIAN FICTION by Jewelle Gomez.
ROBERT O’HARA’S INSURRECTION:“ QUE( E) RYING” HISTORY by Faedra Chatard Carpenter.
If I had one criticism it would be this: academics often use every obscure word they know to only simply explain what they mean using more common words in the following paragraphs. It would be much less of a headache to read—and intimidating to read—if they were to use more accessible language from the start. When I first bought this text, I was so exhausted from trying to understand a single sentence, I almost didn’t come back to the text. I am glad I did, but most people I know wouldn’t even bother. And I understand that writers often have a certain audience in mind when writing—which dictates the structure and language used.
However, what is the point of writing in a way that only excludes most people outside of the Academy—who would probably benefit from this knowledge the most because certain isms have locked them out? Stated another way, it annoys me when academics gate keep knowledge and instead of making it more accessible choose to engage in a sort of “Academic circle jerk.” Sometimes, Google is not enough because it just offers “common” definitions of words, not the context in which the writer is writing the group of words—which often alters their meanings beyond “common” definitions. That is why I only rated this text as four stars.
QUARE” STUDIES, OR (ALMOST) EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT QUEER STUDIES I LEARNED FROM MY GRANDMOTHER by E. Patrick Johnson.
PUNKS, BULLDAGGERS, AND WELFARE QUEENS: THE RADICALPOTENTIAL OF QUEER POLITICS? by Cathy J. Cohen.
BUT SOME OF US ARE BRAVE LESBIANS:THE ABSENCE OF BLACK LESBIAN FICTION by Jewelle Gomez.
ROBERT O’HARA’S INSURRECTION:“ QUE( E) RYING” HISTORY by Faedra Chatard Carpenter.
If I had one criticism it would be this: academics often use every obscure word they know to only simply explain what they mean using more common words in the following paragraphs. It would be much less of a headache to read—and intimidating to read—if they were to use more accessible language from the start. When I first bought this text, I was so exhausted from trying to understand a single sentence, I almost didn’t come back to the text. I am glad I did, but most people I know wouldn’t even bother. And I understand that writers often have a certain audience in mind when writing—which dictates the structure and language used.
However, what is the point of writing in a way that only excludes most people outside of the Academy—who would probably benefit from this knowledge the most because certain isms have locked them out? Stated another way, it annoys me when academics gate keep knowledge and instead of making it more accessible choose to engage in a sort of “Academic circle jerk.” Sometimes, Google is not enough because it just offers “common” definitions of words, not the context in which the writer is writing the group of words—which often alters their meanings beyond “common” definitions. That is why I only rated this text as four stars.
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