José Esteban Muñoz
Biographic Data
| ID | 196237 |
|---|---|
| NAME | José Esteban Muñoz |
| GIVEN NAMES | José Esteban |
| FAMILY NAME | Muñoz |
| SIGNATURE | MUÑOZ J E |
| AFFILIATIONS | New York University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 42 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 323 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Kruzing przez utopię. Tam i wtedy queerowej przyszłości
Queerowo jeszcze nie nadesza.Queer to idea.Innymi sowy
Performer la désidentité
C'est à Disidentification : Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics de José Esteban Muñoz que l'on doit la diffusion du concept de désidentification. L'historien de l'art l'utilise pour désigner ces artistes queers noir·es et latinx qui ont développé des techniques pour ne pas répondre à l'injonction institutionnelle à produire un art « ethnique » ou estampillé « queer ». Dans cet extrait, le minimalisme de Felix González-Torres permet d'…
Cruising the Toilet
Ghosts of Public Sex
The Sense of Brown
Cruising Utopia, 10th Anniversary Edition
José Esteban Muñoz's "Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity," in its 10th-anniversary edition, remains a landmark intervention in queer studies. Muñoz theorizes "queer futurity" as a critical framework for understanding queer experience not as a fixed identity but as a horizon of possibility. He argues against the assimilationist impulses of contemporary LGBTQ+ politics, advocating instead for an embrace of utopian thinking as a t…
Race, Sex, and the Incommensurate
Fantasmas do Sexo em Público
Em 1989, durante a segunda conferência nacional de Estudos Gays e Lésbicos ocorrida na Universidade Yale, eu assisti Douglas Crimp dar uma comovente e provocante palestra intitulada "Luto e Militância".Nela, Crimp detalhava o trabalho do luto na cultura queer enquanto desvelava um inventário da vasta e perdida mundivivência gay masculina [gay male lifeworld], aparentemente devastada pela pandemia do HIV/AIDS. Eu quero chamar atenção aqui para um …
The Wildness of the Punk Rock Commons
Editors’ Note: We include this unpublished essay by José Esteban Muñoz in this issue of SAQ on Wildness to honor the project that we both began with José on wildness but never got to complete. The essay here was presented as a talk at the Experience Music Project (EMP) Pop conference in spring of 2013 on a panel with Jack Halberstam and others. The thoughts on wildness expressed here were the beginnings of a shared project that we complete here i…
“Chico, what does it feel like to be a problem?” The Transmission of Brownness
Theorizing Queer Inhumanisms
Research Article| June 01 2015 Theorizing Queer Inhumanisms José Esteban Muñoz; José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Jinthana Haritaworn; Jinthana Haritaworn Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Myra Hird; Myra Hird Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Zakiyyah Iman Jackson; Zakiyyah Iman Jackson Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Jasbir K…
Wise Latinas
The Event of the Poem
This piece reflects on two orders of the poetic event. On one hand, it describes Fred Moten’s reading of the poem “the gramsci monument” at the public art project of the same name. On the other, it meditates on the event that the poem registers, or the general antagonism of the undercommons, and the radical imaginaries that the undercommons facilitates insofar as it already exists within and as the project where it is set
“Gimme Gimme This… Gimme Gimme That”
The great paradox of any punk scene is the ways in which it can simultaneously foster a sort of nihilistic individualism and an often transformational sense of commonality. This essay considers the performance of a punk rock commons that emerged from the Los Angeles punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, reimagining and, to some degree, refunctioning the history of the early Los Angeles punk rock scene in an effort to better understand wha…
Uncloseting Drama
Reviewed by: Uncloseting Drama: American Modernism and Queer Performance José Esteban Muñoz Uncloseting Drama: American Modernism and Queer Performance. By Nick Salvato. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010; pp. 240. Uncloseting Drama wrangles with American modernism’s anti-theatricality by presenting a convincing account of the ways in which literary modernism gained access to and transmitted a very particular sense of queerness through cl…
Vitalism's after-burn
This article considers the influential work of Ana Mendieta. Focusing on her siluetas series, Muñoz describes Mendieta's art as performing a modality of brownness that leaves resonant indentions on the world, what he calls vital materialist after-burns. Mendieta's after-burns are read alongside the poet's of Négritude and their investment in a critical élan vital that speaks to the historical precariousness of dispossessed people. The artist's wo…
Cruising utopia
The LGBT agenda for too long has been dominated by pragmatic issues like same-sex marriage and gays in the military. It has been stifled by this myopic focus on the present, which is short-sighted and assimilationist. Cruising Utopia seeks to break the present stagnancy by cruising ahead. Drawing on the work of Ernst Bloch, José Esteban Muñoz recalls the queer past for guidance in presaging its future. He considers the work of seminal artists and…
From surface to depth, between psychoanalysis and affect
This introduction contextualizes this special issue by comparing different aspects of affect studies and psychoanalysis. It also meditates on the work of artist D-L Alvarez. Questions regarding the relation of surface and depth in critical theory are central to this introduction
Hope and hopelessness
This article is a critical dialogue between Lisa Duggan and José Esteban Muñoz that meditates on questions of public feelings and politics. The authors approach hope and hopelessness as a dialectical formation, ultimately calling for both a critical modality of hope and insisting on the political necessity of engaging feelings of hopelessness that do not simply lead to complacency. The essay melds social theory with concepts from the psychologica…
The Queer Social Text
This essay considers the history of “a queer text” in the journal Social Text. It posits that the journal, through individual essays and pivotal special issues, has made significant contributions to the development of a queer social theory. The essay suggests that queer theory needs to conceptualize itself in relation to a larger tradition of Left critical thought
A Room of One's Own
Fusco's monologue addresses the role of female interrogators in the War on Terror. The piece is staged as a briefing by an intelligence officer who rationalizes the use of sexual harassment by female interrogators of Islamic fundamentalist detainees
The Sense of Watching Tony Sleep
Research Article| July 01 2007 The Sense of Watching Tony Sleep José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google South Atlantic Quarterly (2007) 106 (3): 543–551. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-2007-013 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation José Esteban Muñoz; The Sense of Watching Tony Sleep. South Atlantic Quarterly 1 July 2007; 106 (3)…
Cruising the Toilet
Thinking beyond Antirelationality and Antiutopianism in Queer Critique
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Feeling Brown, Feeling Down
Feeling Brown
The theoretical incoherence of the identity demarcation "Latino" is linked to the term's failure to actualize embodied politics which contest the various antagonisms within the social that challenge Latino/a citizen-subjects. While important political spectacles have been staged under group identity titles such as Chicano and Nuyorican, Latino, a term meant to enable much-needed coalitions between different national groups, has not developed as a…
Ephemera as Evidence
(1996). Ephemera as Evidence: Introductory Notes to Queer Acts. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 5-16
Hope and hopelessness
This article is a critical dialogue between Lisa Duggan and José Esteban Muñoz that meditates on questions of public feelings and politics. The authors approach hope and hopelessness as a dialectical formation, ultimately calling for both a critical modality of hope and insisting on the political necessity of engaging feelings of hopelessness that do not simply lead to complacency. The essay melds social theory with concepts from the psychologica…
Theorizing Queer Inhumanisms
Research Article| June 01 2015 Theorizing Queer Inhumanisms José Esteban Muñoz; José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Jinthana Haritaworn; Jinthana Haritaworn Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Myra Hird; Myra Hird Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Zakiyyah Iman Jackson; Zakiyyah Iman Jackson Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Jasbir K…
Cruising the Toilet
From surface to depth, between psychoanalysis and affect
This introduction contextualizes this special issue by comparing different aspects of affect studies and psychoanalysis. It also meditates on the work of artist D-L Alvarez. Questions regarding the relation of surface and depth in critical theory are central to this introduction
Vitalism's after-burn
This article considers the influential work of Ana Mendieta. Focusing on her siluetas series, Muñoz describes Mendieta's art as performing a modality of brownness that leaves resonant indentions on the world, what he calls vital materialist after-burns. Mendieta's after-burns are read alongside the poet's of Négritude and their investment in a critical élan vital that speaks to the historical precariousness of dispossessed people. The artist's wo…
The Vulnerability Artist
In “The Vulnerability Artist: Nao Bustamante and the Sad Beauty of Reparation” Muñoz reconceives Kafka's “Hunger Artist” to consider different modes of affective comportment in relation to the lives of people of color. Focusing on the work of performance artist Nao Bustamante, Muñoz proposes that affect might be a better gauge than identity to understand the particularity of different groups (including sexual and ethnic minorities). Considering t…
Queer Minstrels for the Straight Eye, Race as Surplus in Gay Tv
Other| January 01 2005 QUEER MINSTRELS FOR THE STRAIGHT EYE, Race as Surplus in Gay TV José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google GLQ (2005) 11 (1): 101–102. https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-11-1-101 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation José Esteban Muñoz; QUEER MINSTRELS FOR THE STRAIGHT EYE, Race as Surplus in Gay TV. GLQ 1 January …
Dead White
Jeffrey. Written by Paul Rudnick. Directed by Christopher Ashley. 1995. 92 mins. Workin' Man Films. Frisk. Written by George La Voo, James Dwyer, and Todd Verow. Directed by Todd Verow. 1995. 84 mins. Strand Releasing. Safe. Written by Todd Hayes. Directed by Todd Haynes. 1995. 119 mins. Chemical Films Production
The White to Be Angry
A partir de l'experience d'un travesti de Los Angeles, l'A. montre comment la race et la sexualite sont etroitement imbriquees. A travers la malleabilite de l'identite travestie, l'A. montre une philosophie inspiree de Gramsci sur la pratique consideree comme champ de subculture
Cruising Utopia, 10th Anniversary Edition
José Esteban Muñoz's "Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity," in its 10th-anniversary edition, remains a landmark intervention in queer studies. Muñoz theorizes "queer futurity" as a critical framework for understanding queer experience not as a fixed identity but as a horizon of possibility. He argues against the assimilationist impulses of contemporary LGBTQ+ politics, advocating instead for an embrace of utopian thinking as a t…
Teaching, Minoritarian knowledge, and love
The Event of the Poem
This piece reflects on two orders of the poetic event. On one hand, it describes Fred Moten’s reading of the poem “the gramsci monument” at the public art project of the same name. On the other, it meditates on the event that the poem registers, or the general antagonism of the undercommons, and the radical imaginaries that the undercommons facilitates insofar as it already exists within and as the project where it is set
Impossible Spaces
Research Article| June 01 2005 IMPOSSIBLE SPACES: Kevin McCarty's The Chameleon Club José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google GLQ (2005) 11 (3): 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-11-3-427 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site…
A Forum on Theatre and Tragedy
In the immediate aftermath of September 11th, I invited a number of theatre and performance scholars to respond to the concept of tragedy in the context of these world-changing events. The following forum showcases the generosity of a wide range of scholars who signed on to this project with enthusiasm and conviction. More than ever, I believe that our intellectual labor can make a difference. The forum demonstrates much more than the vitality of…
The Onus of Seeing Cuba
Research Article| July 01 2000 The Onus of Seeing Cuba: Nilo Cruz's Cubanía José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google South Atlantic Quarterly (2000) 99 (2-3): 455–460. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-99-2-3-455 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Permissions Cite Icon …
No es facil
Choteo/camp style politics
Ephemera as Evidence
(1996). Ephemera as Evidence: Introductory Notes to Queer Acts. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 5-16
Rebellions of Everynight Life
Everynight Life
Negotiating Performance
The White to Be Angry
A partir de l'experience d'un travesti de Los Angeles, l'A. montre comment la race et la sexualite sont etroitement imbriquees. A travers la malleabilite de l'identite travestie, l'A. montre une philosophie inspiree de Gramsci sur la pratique consideree comme champ de subculture
Pedro Zamora’s Real World of Counterpublicity
Dead White
Jeffrey. Written by Paul Rudnick. Directed by Christopher Ashley. 1995. 92 mins. Workin' Man Films. Frisk. Written by George La Voo, James Dwyer, and Todd Verow. Directed by Todd Verow. 1995. 84 mins. Strand Releasing. Safe. Written by Todd Hayes. Directed by Todd Haynes. 1995. 119 mins. Chemical Films Production
Disidentifications
Feeling Brown
The theoretical incoherence of the identity demarcation "Latino" is linked to the term's failure to actualize embodied politics which contest the various antagonisms within the social that challenge Latino/a citizen-subjects. While important political spectacles have been staged under group identity titles such as Chicano and Nuyorican, Latino, a term meant to enable much-needed coalitions between different national groups, has not developed as a…
The Onus of Seeing Cuba
Research Article| July 01 2000 The Onus of Seeing Cuba: Nilo Cruz's Cubanía José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google South Atlantic Quarterly (2000) 99 (2-3): 455–460. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-99-2-3-455 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Permissions Cite Icon …
A Forum on Theatre and Tragedy
In the immediate aftermath of September 11th, I invited a number of theatre and performance scholars to respond to the concept of tragedy in the context of these world-changing events. The following forum showcases the generosity of a wide range of scholars who signed on to this project with enthusiasm and conviction. More than ever, I believe that our intellectual labor can make a difference. The forum demonstrates much more than the vitality of…
Teaching, Minoritarian knowledge, and love
Queer Minstrels for the Straight Eye, Race as Surplus in Gay Tv
Other| January 01 2005 QUEER MINSTRELS FOR THE STRAIGHT EYE, Race as Surplus in Gay TV José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google GLQ (2005) 11 (1): 101–102. https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-11-1-101 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation José Esteban Muñoz; QUEER MINSTRELS FOR THE STRAIGHT EYE, Race as Surplus in Gay TV. GLQ 1 January …
Impossible Spaces
Research Article| June 01 2005 IMPOSSIBLE SPACES: Kevin McCarty's The Chameleon Club José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google GLQ (2005) 11 (3): 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-11-3-427 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site…
Thinking beyond Antirelationality and Antiutopianism in Queer Critique
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Feeling Brown, Feeling Down
The Vulnerability Artist
In “The Vulnerability Artist: Nao Bustamante and the Sad Beauty of Reparation” Muñoz reconceives Kafka's “Hunger Artist” to consider different modes of affective comportment in relation to the lives of people of color. Focusing on the work of performance artist Nao Bustamante, Muñoz proposes that affect might be a better gauge than identity to understand the particularity of different groups (including sexual and ethnic minorities). Considering t…
The Sense of Watching Tony Sleep
Research Article| July 01 2007 The Sense of Watching Tony Sleep José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google South Atlantic Quarterly (2007) 106 (3): 543–551. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-2007-013 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation José Esteban Muñoz; The Sense of Watching Tony Sleep. South Atlantic Quarterly 1 July 2007; 106 (3)…
Cruising the Toilet
A Room of One's Own
Fusco's monologue addresses the role of female interrogators in the War on Terror. The piece is staged as a briefing by an intelligence officer who rationalizes the use of sexual harassment by female interrogators of Islamic fundamentalist detainees
Cruising utopia
The LGBT agenda for too long has been dominated by pragmatic issues like same-sex marriage and gays in the military. It has been stifled by this myopic focus on the present, which is short-sighted and assimilationist. Cruising Utopia seeks to break the present stagnancy by cruising ahead. Drawing on the work of Ernst Bloch, José Esteban Muñoz recalls the queer past for guidance in presaging its future. He considers the work of seminal artists and…
From surface to depth, between psychoanalysis and affect
This introduction contextualizes this special issue by comparing different aspects of affect studies and psychoanalysis. It also meditates on the work of artist D-L Alvarez. Questions regarding the relation of surface and depth in critical theory are central to this introduction
Hope and hopelessness
This article is a critical dialogue between Lisa Duggan and José Esteban Muñoz that meditates on questions of public feelings and politics. The authors approach hope and hopelessness as a dialectical formation, ultimately calling for both a critical modality of hope and insisting on the political necessity of engaging feelings of hopelessness that do not simply lead to complacency. The essay melds social theory with concepts from the psychologica…
Art (26 works) · Sociology (24 works) · Gender Studies (16 works) · History (13 works) · Queer (13 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Art history (10 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Latin American and Latino Studies (9 works) · Political science (7 works)