Book dossier

Drag Interperformance and the Trouble with Queerness

by Katie Horowitz

"This ethnography of drag kings and queens in Ohio reveals that these iconically queer institutions have little in common and introduces interperformance, a framework for identity formation and community building. The book uncovers rifts in the LGBT community and suggests strategies for repair. This is the story of the drag kings and queens at Bounce/Union Station, a gay bar in Cleveland, Ohio. Through an ethnography of their weekly shows, Katie Horowitz reveals that despite the shared heading of drag, radical (in)difference between these genres provides a window into the perennial rift between lesbians and gay men. Drag, Interperformance, and the Trouble with Queerness is the first book centered on queer life in Cleveland and the first to focus simultaneously on kinging and queening. This important work argues for the legitimacy of studies that focus exclusively on a single identity, free from the intersectional compulsion to extrapolate one's claims to the rest of the queer spectrum. The book will be key reading for students and faculty in the interdisciplinary fields of feminist, gender, and sexuality studies; performance studies; American studies; cultural studies; ethnography; and rhetoric. It will be useful to graduate students and faculty interested in queer culture, gender performance, and the emerging field of transgender studies. At the same time, the clear and relatable writing style will make it accessible to undergraduates and well suited to upper-level courses in queer theory, LGBTQ identities, performance studies, and qualitative research methods"--