David M. Halperin (born April 2, 1952) is an American theorist in the fields of
gender studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
,
queer theory,
critical theory
A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from s ...
, material culture and visual culture. He is the cofounder of ''
GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies'', and author of several books including ''
Before Pastoral'' (1983) and ''
One Hundred Years of Homosexuality'' (1990).
Early life and education
David Halperin was born on April 2, 1952, in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
.
He graduated from
Oberlin College in 1973, having studied abroad at the
Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in 1972–1973.
He received his PhD in
Classics and
Humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at th ...
from
Stanford University in 1980.
Career
In 1977, Halperin served as Associate Director of the Summer Session of the School of Classical Studies at the
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome.
The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
History
In 1893, a group of American architects ...
.
From 1981 to 1996, he served as Professor of Literature at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...
.
Alongside
Tina Passman, Halperin was one of the first co-chairs of the Lesbian and Gay Classical Caucus, now
Lambda Classical Caucus, which was founded in 1989. In 1994, he taught at the
University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = ...
, and in 1995 at
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...
.
From 1996 to 1999, he was a Lecturer in Sociology at the
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...
.
He is currently
W. H. Auden Distinguished University Professor of the History and Theory of Sexuality at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, where he is also Professor of English, women's studies, comparative literature, and classical studies.
In 1991, he co-founded the
academic journal
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...
''
GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies'', and served as its editor until 2006.
His work has been published in the ''
Journal of Bisexuality'', ''
Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture'', ''
Journal of Homosexuality
The ''Journal of Homosexuality'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research into sexual practices and gender roles in their cultural, historical, interpersonal, and modern social contexts.
History
The founding editor-in-chief was Cha ...
'', ''
Michigan Feminist Studies'', ''
Michigan Quarterly Review
The ''Michigan Quarterly Review'' is an American literary magazine founded in 1962 and published at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
The quarterly (known as "MQR" for short) publishes art, essays, interviews, memoirs, fiction, poetry, and ...
'', ''
Representations
''Representations'' is an interdisciplinary journal in the humanities published quarterly by the University of California Press. The journal was established in 1983 and is the founding publication of the New Historicism movement of the 1980s. It ...
'', the ''
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'' (''BMCR'') is an open access journal founded in 1990. It publishes reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies including classical archaeology.Ex Aequo
''Ex aequo et bono'' (Latin for "according to the right and good" or "from equity and conscience") is a Latin phrase that is used as a legal term of art. In the context of arbitration, it refers to the power of arbitrators to dispense with conside ...
'', ''
UNSW Tharunka'', ''
Australian Humanities Review'', ''
Sydney Star Observer'', ''
The UTS Review'', ''
Salmagundi
Salmagundi (or salmagundy or sallid magundi) is a cold dish or salad made from different ingredients which may include meat, seafood, eggs, cooked vegetables, raw vegetables, fruits or pickles. In English culture, the term does not refer to a s ...
'', ''
Blueboy'', ''
History and Theory'', ''
Diacritics
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
'', ''
American Journal of Philology
The ''American Journal of Philology'' is a quarterly academic journal established in 1880 by the classical scholar Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. It covers the field of philology, and related areas ...
'', ''
Classical Antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations ...
'', ''
Ancient Philosophy
This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history ().
Overview
Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures ...
'', ''
Yale Review
''The Yale Review'' is the oldest literary journal in the United States. It is published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
It was founded in 1819 as ''The Christian Spectator'' to support Evangelicalism. Over time it began to publish more on ...
'', ''
Critical Inquiry
''Critical Inquiry'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal in the humanities published by the University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Department of English Language and Literature (University of Chicago). While the topics and historica ...
'', ''
Virginia Quarterly Review
The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussion"' ...
'', ''
American Notes & Queries'', ''
London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review ...
'', ''
Journal of Japanese Studies
''The Journal of Japanese Studies'' (JJS) is the most influential journal dealing with research on Japan in the United States. It is a multidisciplinary forum for communicating new information, new interpretations, and recent research results con ...
'', ''
Partisan Review
''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affiliated Joh ...
'', and ''
Classical Journal
''The Classical Journal'' (CJ) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of classical studies published by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South.
Print edition
The journal currently has about 2300 subscribers, including ap ...
''.
He has been a Rome Prize Fellow at the
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome.
The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
History
In 1893, a group of American architects ...
and a Fellow at the
National Humanities Center The National Humanities Center (NHC) is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities. The NHC operates as a privately incorporated nonprofit and is not part of any university or federal agency. The center was planned under the auspi ...
in North Carolina, as well as a fellow at the
Stanford Humanities Center, the Humanities Research Centre at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
in Canberra, and at the Society for the Humanities at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...
.
In 2008–2009, he received a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
.
He received the Michael Lynch Service Award from the Gay and Lesbian Caucus at the
Modern Language Association, as well as the Distinguished Editor Award from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.
In 2011–2012, he received the
Brudner Prize at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
.
Halperin is openly gay.
In 1990, he launched a campaign to oppose the presence of the
ROTC
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
on the MIT campus, on the grounds that it discriminated against gay and lesbian students. That same year, he received
death threat
A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a ...
s for his gay activism. In 2003, the Michigan chapter of the
American Family Association
The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. tried to ban his course 'How to Be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation.' In 2010, he wrote an open letter to Michigan's 52nd
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
Mike Cox to denounce the homophobic harassment by one of the latter's staffers,
Andrew Shirvell, of a University of Michigan student, Chris Armstrong.
Work
Genealogy of homosexuality
Halperin uses the method of genealogy to study the history of homosexuality. He argues that
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his fo ...
' speech in
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institutio ...
's ''
Symposium
In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...
'' does not indicate a "taxonomy" of heterosexuals and homosexuals comparable to modern ones. Medieval historian
John Boswell
John Eastburn Boswell (March 20, 1947December 24, 1994) was an American historian and a full professor at Yale University. Many of Boswell's studies focused on the issue of religion and homosexuality, specifically Christianity and homosexuality. ...
has criticized Halperin's arguments.
''One Hundred Years of Homosexuality''
Halperin's book was published in 1990,
two years before the centenary of
Charles Gilbert Chaddock
Charles Gilbert Chaddock (November 14, 1861 – July 20, 1936) was an American neurologist, psychiatrist, and translator. He is remembered for describing the Chaddock reflex and is credited with the coinage of the terms ''bisexuality'', ''hete ...
's English translation of
Richard von Krafft-Ebing
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (full name Richard Fridolin Joseph Freiherr Krafft von Festenberg auf Frohnberg, genannt von Ebing; 14 August 1840 – 22 December 1902) was a German psychiatrist and author of the foundational work '' Psychopath ...
's ''
Psychopathia Sexualis''. Chaddock is credited with the first use of the term "homosexual" in English in this translation.
Halperin believes that the introduction of this term marks an important change in the treatment and consideration of homosexuality.
The book collects six essays by the author. The first essay gives the book its title.
Reception by the academic community
Accusations of plagiarism
Didier Eribon
Didier Eribon (born 10 July 1953) is a French author and philosopher, and a historian of French intellectual life. He lives in Paris.
Life
Didier Eribon was born in Reims into a working-class family. He was the first in his family to finish ...
demanded that his name be withdrawn as a recipient of the 2008
Brudner prize because he did not want to be associated with Halperin, who won the Brudner for his book ''What Do Gay Men Want?'' and whom Eribon accused of plagiarizing Eribon's work, ''Une morale du minoritaire''.
According to ''
L'Express
''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''.
History ...
'' in 2011, Halperin had not yet responded to Eribon's claims.
Accusation of faddishness
In her 1991 essay "Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders: Academe in the Hour of the Wolf",
Camille Paglia
Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern cultur ...
finds in Halperin's work a prototypical example of rampant careerism in the humanities. Paglia observes that Halperin's generation of academics is prone to a "contemporary parochialism" that eagerly cites hot-off-the-press articles without attempting to critically assess their objective merit in light of the intellectual tradition. Paglia accuses Halperin of assembling a pastiche of the latest faddish opinions and marketing it as a book, not for the sake of advancing the cause of truth, but with no other aim than career advancement. She compares such scholarship to
junk bond
In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit event ...
s, a highly volatile investment.
Paglia's long review article was itself criticised in the following issue of ''Arion'' by W. Ralph Johnson and Thomas Van Nortwick.
Since Paglia's critique, Halperin has gone on to publish four monographs and co-edited two volumes of queer criticism.
Publications
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* ''The War on Sex''. Edited with Trevor Hoppe. Durham: Duke University Press. 2017.
References
External links
David Halperinat the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halperin, David M.
1952 births
Academic journal editors
American academics of English literature
American classical scholars
American gay writers
LGBT people from Illinois
LGBT people from Michigan
Gay academics
Living people
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty
Monash University faculty
Oberlin College alumni
People from Chicago
People involved in plagiarism controversies
Queer theorists
Stanford University alumni
University of Michigan faculty
University of New South Wales faculty
University of Queensland faculty