Review: E. Patrick Johnson and Mae G. Henderson, eds, Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005

Being an East Asian queer, initially I was worried about reviewing a collection of essays on Black Queer studies as I carried a lot of theoretical and political baggage concerning 'queerness' and 'raciality'. Would I be able to appreciate and respect-fully comment upon specific Black issues and histories, particularly how they are articulated within Queer studies? Would I only be able to read it as a sympathetic 'queer and racial Other'? I need not have worried, for Black Queer Studies moves away precisely from (dis)placing the reader into an essentialized self-conscious scrutiny and instead, encourages a self-reflexivity beyond the very discursive categorizations of identity politics (sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, gender). Black Queer Studies critically reengages with what have become somewhat tired terms such as,'normativity', 'homogeneity' and 'assimilationist', by questioning whether they are still 'doing something' for both Queer and Black theory/politics.