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Cruising Faërie: Further Notes on Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature
No full textIn Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature (2022), I argue that fantasy affords sexually marginalized people the ability to re-vision Christian theology in queer ways, thanks to its fixation on strange bodies, its longing for other worlds, and the ways in which both of these may reflect back on theological narratives of incarnation and salvation. Yet this project raises further questions that remain unresolved: namely, how might the framework of Christian theology constrain, as well as illuminate, queer imaginaries? If fantasy allows us to envision livable lives for ourselves as unruly bodies, just what forms of relating may those lives entail? Fantasy may, as Jes Battis (2007) has argued, serve as a magical conduit for channeling melancholic desires into action in our world, but what drives the desire for religious belonging? What other desires – sexual, national, racial – might be bound up with it, and what sort of spell are we casting from it?
In this talk, I build on José Esteban Muñoz’s (2009) notion of ‘cruising utopia’ to reaffirm that, rather than merely representing or validating existing LGBTQ+ identities, fantasy’s worldmaking impulse can help us map the conditions for queer ways of life yet to be realized. Yet, following precedents set by George MacDonald and J.R.R. Tolkien, I also deviate from Muñoz’s utopian vision to posit fantasy as an ambivalent third space where queer desires can be both celebrated and interrogated. In this analysis, both fantasy and queerness are profoundly formed by dominant, primary-world cultures even as they attempt to look beyond them. With reference to fantasy works by Chaz Brenchley and Laurie J. Marks, I suggest that fantasy can map relations between religious devotion, queer desire, and sexually dissident lives that complicate the liberatory frame presented in Queering Faith while continuing to affirm the act of imagining otherwise as the beginning – though crucially far from the end – of queer resistance to a hostile world
Trans Inequity, Intersectional Ritual, and Jewish Tikkun Olam (Healing of the World)
Get PDFAs Jewish science fiction expands into twenty-first-century questions of identity, some authors explore the trans experience and build bridges towards intersectionality. Ritual and tradition become popular subjects. In the post-apocalyptic Fragments of the Brooklyn Talmud by Andrew Ramer, diverse rabbis create new prayers and practices. A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys offers protagonists from a diverse commune who welcome aliens and rise up against the corporations. Bogi Takács’ short story “Three Partitions” questions where to segregate the shapeshifting Adira, and how the Orthodox space colony can change. Several of these stories ask how comfortable Jewish protagonists are with alien rituals and explore incorporating or blending them for a truly universal experience, modeling how we can do the same. All offer thought-provoking worldbuilding and eco-punk as they consider new practices for a more inclusive twenty-first century religion
The Many Adventures of Mary Darling, by Pat Murphy. Reviewed by Ruth Berman.
Get PDFMythprint is the quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local discussion groups
2025 Apothecary
Get PDFIt is with great honor that we present the 2025 Apothecary issue. This year’s Apothecary was made possible by generous financial contributions from many stores, businesses, and Southwestern College of Pharmacy alumni. We greatly appreciate and thank you for your continued support.https://dc.swosu.edu/apoth/1068/thumbnail.jp
From Hildeburh to Héra: Recuperating Women’s Presence in Beowulf, J.R.R. Tolkien’s \u3ci\u3eThe Lord of the Rings\u3c/i\u3e, and Kenji Kamiyama’s \u3ci\u3eThe War of the Rohirrim\u3c/i\u3e
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Prison foodways in “Orange is the New Black”
Get PDFThe current study adds to the literature on prison foodways and media studies by exploring the role of prison food on the show Orange is the New Black (OITNB). Specifically, this project aimed to better understand the nature of televised incarceration experiences through the way in which incarcerated characters interacted with food in the scenes. Through an analysis of 601 food-related scenes in OITNB, findings suggest: 1) food is a vehicle for additional layers of institutional control of captive bodies, 2) food plays myriad non-food roles such as medicine, a transactional medium, a vehicle for contraband, and even sexual pleasure, and 3) food, primarily in OITNB’s prison kitchen, offers empowerment to incarcerated women albeit through disempowering tropes and stereotype