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Liz Montegary
I am a visiting lecturer in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies/Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. I completed my Ph.D. in Cultural Studies, with designated emphases in Critical Theory and Feminist Theory, at the University of California, Davis in June 2011. I am now revising my dissertation, “Queer Mobilizations: The Transnational Circuits of U.S. Lesbian and Gay Politics,” into a book manuscript. This project traces the history of lesbian and gay travel during the 20th century in order to illustrate how global networks of exchange shape lesbian and gay politics in the U.S. Specifically, I focus on modes of travel linked to campaigns against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” development projects advancing LGBT human rights, and calls for marriage and family equality. Placing feminist and queer theory in conversation with mobility studies, I examine the militarized relations of power at play within travel practices to illuminate the transnational dimensions of U.S. sexual politics and to consider the limits and possibilities of U.S. lesbian and gay activism today. I have also begun initial work on a second book-length project that examines the U.S. fitness industry with the aim of understanding how militarized technologies of power target the movements of bodies at the cellular level. This project builds on my ongoing interest in mobilities and militarization, but shifts the focus from large-scale travel patterns to bodily motions and processes. Drawing on my experience working as a personal trainer and teaching queer-friendly fitness classes, I analyze the gendered, sexualized, and racialized dimensions of fitness culture in relation to practices of war and empire.
Liz Montegary will be speaking at these events:
