Film Screening & Discussion with Pioneering Queer Anthropologist Esther Newton

28 September, 6-9pm, Strathcona M1, McGIll

Grab your tickets here!

The Queer Anthropology Reading Group is hosting a film screening and Q&A/discussion panel of Jean Carlomusto’s Esther Newton Made Me Gay (2022), an award-winning documentary about the life and works of queer anthropologist Esther Newton. The film charts her story of awakening to gay life in the 1950’s, the women’s liberation movement and lesbian-feminism, drag culture, and forging a butch identity that for her is in conversation with trans masculinity. Keenly attuned to the societal forces that shaped her life, Esther guides us through an anthropology of herself, a study influenced by her love for a sport – competitive dog agility – that pairs her aging butch body with her beloved dog teammate on an obstacle course that is constantly changing.

For the discussion, we are delighted to announce that Esther Newton herself will join us in person. Esther Newton is a cultural anthropologist best known for her pioneering work on the ethnography of lesbian and gay communities in the United States. Newton is the author of numerous articles and three groundbreaking books: Mother camp: female impersonators in America (1972); Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty years in America’s first gay and lesbian town (1993); and Margaret Mead made me gay: personal essays, public ideas (2000).

The event will be held on Thursday, September 28 at McGill University, Strathcona M1 from 6 – 9pm. This event is free to attend, but we encourage you to grab a free ticket on our Eventbrite page to secure a spot!

This event is organized by the Queer Anthropology Reading Group, a group of graduate and undergraduate students in the Department of Anthropology who believe that McGill Anthropology could benefit from a shift in content and course offerings that highlight the diverse history of anthropology as a discipline, especially in the sub-field of Queer Anthropology. We are seeking to demonstrate that this history exists and hope to help other students and community members understand how key some of these works are to the discipline as a whole in its contemporary form. The reading group will kick off later this fall. For updates, you can find us on instagram @queer.anthro.

Grab your tickets here!