1. Spencer Ruelos
Anth 410
A Critical Engagement with Queer, Digital,
and Social Justice Anthropological Theories
As an anthropologists, my interests have tended to lie in a more critical engagement with the concepts
society, culture, power, and identity. This has mostly embodied itself as a means of utilizing queer, digital,
and social justice frameworks to my understandings and viewpoints of the world. Below you find some of
the works that I have found over the last four years that have shaped these overarching theoretical
frameworks that I use in my anthropological and ethnographic work.
The first section you will find titled “Queer Anthropology.” As a gay man myself, I have been very
interested in understanding some of the social and cultural meanings tied to sex, sexuality, and gender. I can
honestly say that my interest early on in this investigation of queer anthropology was a shallow one—I had
expected to find in the readings a collection of diverse sexual and gendered subjectivities of those in the
anthropological literature that I could reference and classify as I saw fit. Oh, the hijra in India? Yeah, that was a
third gender/sex category in India that was very much tied into ritual practices and asceticism. What I’ve come to learn
through my more critical engagement with queer anthropology is understand the complex relations of
power that various sexual and gendered subjectivities are formed and contested. Much of this work you will
see come from both the fields of queer studies and anthropology. While these two fields have had some
difficulties ‘getting along,’ I ultimately find their collective worth and intersections (thus, ‘queer
anthropology’) to be worthwhile to my theoretical and anthropological self.
The second section called “Digital and Virtual Anthropologies” explores my interests that lie in digital
technology, virtual embodiment, social networking, and online virtual communities. Growing up as both a
geeky gamer and a tech kid has really shaped my views on the roles of technology and the internet in our
daily lives. While I think a lot of popular discourse has discussed how we’ve become less intimate by
becoming our digital selves, I hold fast to the viewpoint that digital media technologies have actually
deepened the ways we have meaning relationships and connections with other humans, both locally and
globally. I would argue that a common theme in the citations below is that digital and virtual anthropologies
(in the plural) extend our analysis of culture, society, and what it means to be human to the more recent
online virtual spaces. Thus, I value the perspective of looking at virtual and digital settings as illustrative of
many ways that we are human.
The final section is called “Social Justice and Transformation” and traces my theoretical and activist interests
in social movements, anti-oppression visions, and activist research work for social justice. Part of these
interests stem from my position as a queer-identified cisgender man and my engagement in the department
of Critical Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. But that isn’t to say these interests aren’t anthropological!
Much of this critical perspective has given me a understanding of the social and cultural processes that
inform understandings of race, gender, sexuality, class, (dis)ability, national identity, and the like. One
especially transformative insight from this has been my interest in a critical understanding of the prison
system—the prison industrial complex. In all of these questions of social justice and sociocultural
transformation, critical anthropology and ethnographic methods become useful tools for delving further
into the discussion. Thus, while many of these citations do not come from anthropologists per se, they come
together to ultimately inform how I envision doing activist/engaged anthropological work in order to
combat systems of oppression and to create and envision a better world for future.
Collectively, the list below illustrates both my theoretical and activist research interests within and beyond
anthropology. Though not necessarily disciplines that have immediate overlap, taken together these three
themes work to really paint a vivid picture of my continued engagement with anthropological research and
my perspectives on issues such as society, culture, power, and identity.

2. Annotated Bibliography Ruelos 2
Queer Anthropology
1) Alexander, M. Jacqui. 2005. “Imperial Desire/Sexual Utopias: White Gay Capital and Transnational
Tourism.” Pedagogies of Crossing: Meditiations on Feminism, Sexual Politics, Memory, and the Sacred.
Duke University: 2005.
Alexander’s work was pivotal for my literature review on transnational queer tourism by illustrating the ways
in which travelers position themselves in neocolonial terms and erotically exotify those queers in the
destination countries they visit. Her analysis of the reification of colonial desires by the mainstream gay and
lesbian niche market has been a key insight that I’ve taken with me.
2) Blackwood, Evelyn. 2002 "Reading Sexualities across Cultures: Anthropology and Theories of
Sexuality." Out in Theory: The Emergence of Lesbian and Gay Anthropology. E. Lewin and W. Leap,
eds. University of Illinois Press: 2002.
Blackwood’s piece traces some of the anthropological approaches in the 70s and 80s to theorize female
same-sex sexual relations. What I find most useful is her critical engagement with the representation of
same-sex relations between women in various cultures. Near the end of her piece, she briefly touches upon
the postmodern and queer theoretical approaches, which mark a shift in theories concerning power, identity,
and subjectivity.
3) Boellstorff, Tom. 2005. The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and Nation in Indonesia. Princeton University Press.
Boellstorff’s pivotal inquiry into the lives of gay and lesbi Indonesians sheds light on the intersections of
gender, sexuality, and national identity. He brings together a complex understanding that acknowledges the
contradictions and conflicting subjectivities and cultural logics that shape understanding of these
Indonesians. Ultimately, his monograph sheds light on a postcolonial queer anthropology that is useful for
those of us intersected in those theoretical engagements.
4) *Boellstorff, Tom. 2007. "Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology." Annual Review of Anthropology. 36:
17-35.
In this review, Boellstorff marks some of the contemporary trends in queer anthropology since 1993. It
focuses on the debates in queer anthropology and the shifts to looking at women’s same-sex desires and
transgender experiences while incorporating a discussion of the uses of history, geography, and linguistics to
the field of queer anthropology.
5) Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Theatre Arts Books.
Butler’s work has become foundational for queer studies and feminism. What is especially insightful is her
analysis of gender as something that is performative rather than some essential to someone’s core being.
6) El Menyawi, H. 2006. “Activism from the Closet: Gay Rights Strategizing in Egypt.” Melborne Journal
of International Law. 7: 28.
El Menyawi examines the politics of the Egyptian government to illustrate the ways in which the classical
Stonewall technique to liberation (esp. coming out and organizing) should not be heralded as the lone
method to achieving liberation. He complicates the notion of the ‘coming out,’ which I find especially useful
for understanding the political and social contexts for various forms of activism and resistance
7) Foucault, Michel. 1972. History of Sexuality, Volume 1. Penguin Books.
Another foundational text in queer theory, feminism, and critical social theory, Foucault illustrates the ways
in which power produces subjectivities through the creation of discourses. This understanding of
subjectivity as something which is no coherent, individual, or internal has been especially useful for those
examining queer subjectivities across the globe.
8) Jagose, Annarmarie. 1996. Queer Theory: An Introduction. New York University Press.

3. Annotated Bibliography Ruelos 3
Jagose’s work traces the historical context for understanding queer theory as well as the academic emergence
of the field of queer studies. Her attention to detail in depicting the history and movement of queer is useful
beginning for conversations about what it means and how those in various fields use it
9) Katz, Jonathon. 2007. The Invention of Heterosexuality. University of Chicago Press.
Katz’s work shows the historical and contextual meanings of the term ‘heterosexual,’ arguing that it is a
modern invention that has had shifting meanings dependent on the historical and social context. His queer
analysis of showing the instability of both the categories of ‘heterosexual’ and ‘homosexual’ is what I find
pivotal. A big question that resonates is how are identity categories are contested and contextual so that we can
understand how they are normalized?
10) Newton, Esther. 1993. “My Best Informant’s Dress: The Erotic Equation in Fieldwork.” Margaret Mead
Made Me Gay. Duke University: 2000.
Newton’s work is often classified as the beginning work and texts that articulate a ‘queer anthropology.’ In
this piece, Newton reflects on her work on urban drag queens and looks at the politics of being involved in
sexual relations with one’s informants. She looks at some of the existing literature and argues that while it
can be dangerous, it is an important conversation to have especially when you’re researching sexuality and
sexual minorities.
11) Rubin, Gayle. 1993. “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of Politics of Sexuality.” Deviations: A
Gayle Rubin Reader. Duke University: 2011.
This piece was a pivotal turn in both queer studies and feminist theory, where Rubin articulates an argument
that a feminist analysis solely on gender cannot provide a complex understanding for sexuality. Rubin also is
the theorist to term the “sex/gender system,” articulating that though the two may be tied, we should not
conflate the concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ and we should recognize what gets demonized and rendered
deviant from such socially constructed norms like heterosexuality.
12) Valentine, David. 2002. “We’re ‘Not about Gender’: The Uses of Transgender.” Out in Theory: The
Emergence of Lesbian and Gay Anthropology. Lewin and Leap, eds. University of Illinois Press: 2002.
Valentine’s works talks about the complexities of the term ‘transgender.’ His ethnographic research focuses
on the political emergence for the category, ultimately arguing that queer anthropology reflect on the ways it
utilizes terms and categories. His acknowledgement of the social and political specificity is what I find
especially useful.
13) Weston, Kath. 1997. Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, and Kinship. Columbia University Press.
Weston’s work analyzes the ways in which gays and lesbians negotiate the concept of family. What I find
especially useful is her analysis of the ways in which family is not something which is necessarily biologically
constructed, bur rather the meanings given to family by those in intimate relationships. Thus family as a
social construct for gays and lesbians to reclaim becomes a powerful act of both resistance and community-
making.
14) *Weston, Kath. 1993. “Lesbian/Gay Studies in the House of Anthropology.” Annual Review of
Anthropology: 22, 339-367.
Weston’s review focuses on the emergence of gay and lesbian issues in anthropology up until 1993. She
argues that issues of sexual orientation and sexual marginalization have had a rightful place in anthropology.
Thus, Weston’s purpose is to simultaneously discuss the history of gay and lesbian studies in anthropology
while also urging writers to continue the recent inquiries into anthropology of sexuality and gender.
15) Wekker, Gloria. 2006. The Politics of Passion: Women’s Sexual Culture in Afro-Surinamese Diaspora.
Columbia University Press.

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Wekker examines the postcolonial context for women’s same-sex sexual culture in Suriname and the
Netherlands. She analyzes the complex ways in which religion, culture, political economy, and history play a
dynamic role in shaping these women’s sexual subjectivity. It is this complex and situated analysis that I
highly appreciate.
Digital and Virtual Anthropologies
16) Boellstorff, Tom. 2008. Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human.
Princeton University Press.
The first of its kind, Coming of Age in Second Life illustrates the work of an anthropologist investigating virtual
worlds in order to get an understanding of what it means to be human. One critical insight I take from this
piece is the understanding that research on virtual worlds can “be on its own.” What this means is that one
doesn’t have to worrying about connecting analysis back to the physical world and that ethnographic
methods work virtual and online settings.
17) Boellstorff, Tom et al. 2012. Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook. Princeton University Press.
In this handbook on ethnographic field methods Boellstorff, Nardi, Pierce, and Taylor work together to
articulate a set of methods for undertaking ethnographic projects of virtual worlds. Continuing Boellstorff’s
work above, they continue to articulate the ways in which anthropology has much to offer in regards to an
understanding of digital and virtual worlds and communities.
18) boyd, danah. 2010. "Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and
Implications." Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites. Ed. Zizi
Papacharissi: 39-58.
boyd’s article categorizes social networking sites as networked publics and give classificatory for such sites.
Her analysis of the ways in which media technologies allow us this utilize new digital and virtual spaces in
order to relate and network with others. In this piece, she tackles the concept of context collapse and
invisible audiences, which are innovative theories for understanding social communication on SNS.
19) boyd, danah and Nicole Ellison. 2010. Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. IEEE
Engineering Management Review, 38(3): 16.
The authors give the definition, historical contexts, and current review of the literature for social networking
sites. This becomes especially useful for contextualizing my current research on the SNS and virtual
community of GaymerConnect.
20) Gershon, Ilana. 2010. "Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Media Switching and Media Ideologies." Journal
of Linguistic Anthropology 20 (2): 389–405.
Gershon looks at the ways in which media technologies shape the way that we communicate through a case
study of breaking up via mobile phones. She ultimately argues that media ideologies shape how we act and
behavior, a useful theoretical lens for any digital and virtual anthropologist.
21) Miller, Daniel. 2011. Tales from Facebook. Polity Press.
Miller examines the ways in which Trinidadians use Facebook. However, what is especially useful is his
anthropological analysis of media sites like Facebook for various communities. For example, one of his
innovative theoretical analyses is a view of Facebook as a meta-friend to those who use it.
22) Miller, Daniel and Heather Horst. 2012. “The Digital and the Human: A Prospectus for Digital
Anthropology.” Digital Anthropology. Eds. Heather Horst and Daniel Miller. Berg Publishers:
London.
In this introduction to their edited anthology, Miller and Horst lay out the theoretical and methodological
foundations for digital anthropology, including its scope and standing. Since digital anthropology is such a

5. Annotated Bibliography Ruelos 5
relatively young paradigm, this text is crucial for understanding what it means to be doing digital
ethnographic work. It examines the complex relations between the digital and the human as a means to
understanding communication and relations online and with technology.
23) Ong, Walter. 1996. "Information and/or Communication: Interactions.” An Ong Reader. 2002.
Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press Inc.: 505–525.
In this piece, Ong makes the theoretical claim that when technology changes, human relationship and
though patterns change. What I find most insightful that, anthropologically speaking, there is an important
relationship to recognize between people and technology.
24) Wesch, Michael. 2008. “An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube.” mwesch. YouTubeVideo.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU>.
In this video presentation at the library of Congress, Wesch articulates a complex analysis of community
building in YouTube members. Echoing Ong’s analysis, what becomes powerful here is his analysis that
when media change, human relations change. He also touches upon the various ways that the community
create both positive and negative bonds, which is especially useful for my current research as well.
Social Justice and Transformation
25) Arkles, Gabriel. 2009. "Safety and Solidarity Across Gender Lines: Rethinking Segregation of
Transgender People in Detention." Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review 18.2: 515.
Arkles articulates a critical examination of the prison industrial complex as it relates to trans and gender-
non-conforming individuals. He makes a cogent argument that the prison system itself perpetuates systems
of violence and coercion regarding racial, sexual, classed, disabled, and gendered minorities. His critical
perspective is one of the reasons I consider myself a prison abolitionist and have thought about conducting
research regarding people in prison.
26) Bassichis, Morgan et al. 2011. “Building an Abolitionist Trans and Queer Movement with
Everything We’ve Got.” Captive Genders. Eds. Erix Stanley and Nat Smith. 2011. AK Press: 15–40.
Bassichis, Lee, and Spade historicize the radical queer and trans social movements in order to illustrate
importance of recognizing the damages of the prison industrial complex and to dismantle it. Utilizing quite a
few examples of the way various movements have responded to governmental policies and practices, the
chapter highlights some very useful queer perspectives on issues including the PIC.
27) Davis, Angela. 2003. Are Prisons Obsolete? Open Media.
Davis work looks at the intersections of race and gender in the criminalization and surveillance of
communities that are incarcerated. Her text articulates an abolitionist perspective to prisons, which has very
much informed not only my social justice and activist self, but informs my critical understanding of the ways
society policies racialized, gendered, and sexual minorities in the US.
28) McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Race, Class, and Gender in the
United States: An Integrated Study (Eighth ed.). Ed. Paula Rothenberg. 1988: 165-169.
McIntosh discusses the concept of white privilege as unearned benefits that one receives from society. She
uses the metaphor of a knapsack, which carries the tools that those with privilege have while also making a
list of her privileges as a heterosexual white female. This article sticks with me both epistemically and
methodologically, reminding me to check my privilege and to recognize my positionality in any situation.
29) Sandoval, Chela. 1991 "US Third World Feminism: The Theory and Method of Oppositional
Consciousness in the Postmodern World." Genders 10:1-24.
Sandoval articulates the various methods of oppositional consciousness: equal rights, revolutionary,
separatist, and supremacist approaches. Ultimately Sandoval argues that women of color in the US have had

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to utilize all of these strategies (rather than canonizing one and demonizing the rest) because of their
complex social position. It is differential consciousness, utilizing the four of these as they see fit to your
current contextual positions, that really informs my own conceptualization of social movement tactics and
strategies for social transformation
30) Sociological Images. Founders Lisa Wade and Gwen Sharp. <http://thesocietypages.org/socimages>.
This blog seeks to provide a sociological (and very anthropological as well) understanding for viewing the
world. Its goal is to provide a critical analysis of popular culture and public discourse in order to both
deconstruct social processes, mechanisms, and systems of inequality and envision positive and healthy
alternatives. Its social justice lens is why I find it useful for critically engaging with representations and
systems of power and privilege in very contemporary framework.