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The fierce tribe : masculine identity and performance in the Circuit / Mickey Weems.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Weems, Mickey.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Gay and lesbian dance parties--Social aspects--United States.
- Gay and lesbian dance parties.
- Gay culture--United States.
- Gay culture.
- Gay men--United States--Identity.
- Gay men.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (298 pages) : illustrations.
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- Logan, UT : Utah State University Press, c2008.
- Utah State University Press, [2008]
- Language Note:
- English
- System Details:
- text file
- Summary:
- Mickey Weems applies overtly interdisciplinary interpretation to a subject that demands such a breakdown of intellectual boundaries. This is an ethnography that documents the folk nature of popular culture. The Circuit, an expression of Gay culture, comprises large dance events (gatherings, celebrations, communions, festivals). Music and dance drive a complex, shared performance at these events-electronic house music played by professional DJs and mass ecstatic dancing that engenders communitas. Other types of performance, from drag queens and concerts to contests, theatrics, and the i
- In this ethnography that documents the folk nature of popular culture, Mickey Weems applies interdisciplinary interpretation to a subject that demands such a breakdown of intellectual boundaries. The Circuit, an expression of gay culture, comprises large dance events—gatherings, celebrations, communions, festivals. Music and dance drive complex, shared performances—electronic house music played by professional DJs and mass ecstatic dancing that engenders communitas. Other performances, from drag queens and concerts to contests, theatrics, and the individual display of muscular bodies are part of the festivities.Body sculpting through muscle building is strongly associated with the Circuit, and masculine aggression is both displayed and parodied. Weems, a participant-observer with a multidisciplinary background in anthropology, folklore, religious studies, cultural studies, and somatic studies, considers the cultural and ethical dimensions of what to outsiders might seem to be just wild, flamboyant parties. He compares the Circuit to other traditions of ecstatic and communal dance, and uses his grounding in African-Brazilian Candomblé and in religious studies to illuminate spiritual experiences reported by Circuit participants. And, as a U.S. Marine, he offers the nonviolent masculine arrogance of Circuiteers as an alternative to the violent forms of masculine aggression embedded in the military and much of western culture.
- Contents:
- Introduction: fascists and whores
- pt. I. Fierce:
- Banishing the God of mediocrity
- The few, the proud, the cracked
- Thousands of dancing gay men
- Fierceness
- The girlfriends
- Harm reduction
- pt. II. Tribe: A history of festive homosexuality: 1700-1969 CE
- A history of the Circuit(s): 1969 CE-present
- A tale of two cities: NOLA and MIA
- pt. III. Pulse: Popular dance
- Axe
- From marching soldier to dancing Queen
- PART IV ecstasy
- The DJ
- Stepping out.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
- Description based on print version record.
- Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
- ISBN:
- 9780874216929
- 0874216923
- OCLC:
- 593279947
- Access Restriction:
- Unrestricted online access
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