W. H. Auden Distinguished University Professor of the History and Theory of Sexuality
halperin@umich.eduOffice Information:
3124 Angell Hall
hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30-4 pm, or by appointment
Graduate Faculty; Comparative Literature; English; Material Culture; Theory; Visual Culture; Gender and Sexuality
Education/Degree:
Ph.D., Stanford 1980 B.A., Oberlin College 1973
Highlighted Work and Publications
Essere gay. Identità, stereotipi, cultura
David Halperin
Dissacrante, ironico, a tratti duro e tagliente. Il libro di David Halperin "Essere gay. Identità, stereotipi, cultura" è tutte queste cose insieme e molto altro ancora. David Halperin, pioniere degli studi su LGBTQ (Lesbiche, Gay, Bisessuali, Transessuali, Queer), osa suggerire che l'omosessualità è un modo specifico di "essere" che i gay devono apprendere gli uni dagli altri per raggiungere ciò che veramente sono. Ispirato all'omonimo corso post-universitario che Halperin tiene presso l'Università...
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Gay Shame
Edited by David Halperin and Valerie Traub
Ever since the 1969 Stonewall Riots, “gay pride” has been the rallying cry of the gay rights movement and the political force behind the emergence of the field of lesbian and gay studies. But has something been lost, forgotten, or buried beneath the drive to transform homosexuality from a perversion to a proud social identity? Have the political requirements of gay pride repressed discussion of the more uncomfortable or undignified aspects of homosexuality?Gay Shame seeks to lift this unofficial ban on the investigation of homosexuality and shame by presenting critical work from the most... See More
How to Be Gay
David Halperin
No one raises an eyebrow if you suggest that a guy who arranges his furniture just so, rolls his eyes in exaggerated disbelief, likes techno music or show tunes, and knows all of Bette Davis’s best lines by heart might, just possibly, be gay. But if you assert that male homosexuality is a cultural practice, expressive of a unique subjectivity and a distinctive relation to mainstream society, people will immediately protest. Such an idea, they will say, is just a stereotype—ridiculously simplistic, politically irresponsible, and morally suspect. The world acknowledges gay male culture...
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LA VIE DESCRIPTIBLE DE MICHEL FOUCAULT
David Halperin
La parution du livre de David Halperin Saint Foucault, Towards a Gay Hagiography fut un événement aux États-Unis. Inédite en français, sa troisième partie La vie descriptible de Michel Foucault vient compléter Saint Foucault publié aux éditions EPEL.
Foucault l’avait écrit : « les procédés disciplinaires [...] abaissent le seuil de l'individualité descriptible et font de cette description un moyen ...
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Que Veulent les Gays? Essai sur le Sexe, le Risque et la Subjectivité
David Halperin
Pour lutter contre la pathologisation de l’homosexualité, le mouvement de libération gaie nous avait appris à répondre à cette question par un « Non! » sonore. À la catégorie de subjectivité gaie, il fallait alors substituer celle, collective et politique, d’identité gaie. Mais, avec notamment l’épidémie de VIH/sida, les temps ont changé. Alors que celle-ci n’a toujours pas été jugulée, les comportements à risques d’un certain nombre de gays &... See More
San Foucault. Verso un'agiografia gay
David Halperin
David M. Halperin discute la figura e l’opera del filosofo Michel Foucault. L’idea al centro della concezione foucaultiana della sessualità è che essa debba essere ricondotta alle complesse dinamiche che connettono conoscenza e potere, piuttosto che alla biologia, alla psicologia, o comunque a una radice ‘naturale’. Da qui, la possibilità di usare la sessualità e le sue pratiche come uno strumento per modificare quelle dinamiche, attraverso un percorso di sperimentazione individuale che può anche trasformarsi nel presupposto di azioni...
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The War on Sex
David M. Halperin
The past fifty years are conventionally understood to have witnessed an uninterrupted expansion of sexual rights and liberties in the United States. This state-of-the-art collection tells a different story: while progress has been made in marriage equality, reproductive rights, access to birth control, and other areas, government and civil society are waging a war on stigmatized sex by means of law, surveillance, and social control. The contributors document the history and operation of sex offender registries and the criminalization of HIV, as well as highly punitive measures against sex...
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