Queer Theory

Bruno Perreau is Cynthia L. Reed Professor and Associate Professor of French Studies at MIT. He is the author of The Politics of Adoption (2014).

• Introduction1. Who's Afraid of "Gender Theory"?2. The Many Meanings of Queer3. Transatlantic Homecomings4. The Specter of Queer PoliticsConclusion

"Bruno Perreau's brilliant and compelling analysis of queer theory's controversial arrival on the French scene covers the full range of repercussions of this cultural encounter and translation. Not only does he offer glimpses into the outer reaches of French public hysteria over the unwanted cultural import called "gender," but he reveals how debates on sexuality, gender, and parenthood strike at the heart of national belonging. Taking into account the various anxieties about French and European inclusion that come to over-determine the so-called gender debates, his book demonstrates that queer theory becomes something new and foreign when it seeps into French soil. The consequences are at once alarming and illuminating." —Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley "Bruno's Perreau's book offers fascinating and original interpretations of the nationalist discourses informing public protests against 'marriage for all' in France. His insights into the 'straight mind of the nation' and the parochialism of 'homonationalist' critiques connect fantasies of sovereign geographies to demonization and systemic violence. Anyone interested in contemporary queer theory and post-colonialism must read this book." —Jacqueline Stevens, Northwestern University "A signature contribution to contemporary political and critical theory, Bruno Perreau's book aptly situates the fears that haunted the French imagination during the bitter opposition to the "marriage for all" bill in the twin fears of cultural invasion by the United States--via gender theory--and of contagion by a minority culture. In deconstructing queer theory's "return" to France, Perreau gracefully navigates the challenge of diagnosing the cultural fantasies at play without succumbing to the binaries, French/American, local/global, and majority/minority, that the social movement had itself reified."—Bernard Harcourt, Columbia University "Queer Theory: The French Response is an excellent contribution to the field of gender studies, queer theory, and political theory, and it will interest anyone concerned with the evolving political landscape in Europe and the United States. It should be essential reading for scholars and students in gender studies and queer theory who are also committed activists interested in thinking beyond 'homonationalism' and the 'gay international.' Perreau's new book encourages us all to seek and create new narratives where being queer means simultaneously 'coming and going' instead of simply 'coming out.'"—Denis M. Provencher, EuropeNow "Overall Queer Theory: The French Response is an important addition to both queer theory and political theory for its examination of how cultural fantasies shape theory as it travels. The arguments advanced in the book will be useful to scholars of contemporary politics, transnational cultural studies, and queer theory. By focusing on where queer theory and political theory overlap, Perreau brings into focus a pressing oversight of the modern liberal State: minorities."—Kim Coates, QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking