Part II: Global Histories
Chapter 2: Global Sexualities
LGBTQ+ Anthropology, Past, Present, and Future
Joseph Russo
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, students will be able to do the following:
- Identify key approaches used in LGBTQ+ studies, including anthropology.
- Define key terms relevant to particular methods of interpreting LGBTQ+ people and issues, such as anthropology and ethnography.
- Identify cross-cultural examples of same-sex desire and contemporary LGBTQ+ lives.
- Describe the connections between identities and embodied experiences.
- Describe intersectionality from an LGBTQ+ perspective.
- Analyze how key social institutions shape, define, and enforce structures of inequality.
- Describe how people struggle for social justice within historical contexts of inequality.
- Identify forms of LGBTQ+ activism globally.
Introduction
Sexuality has long been an interest of sociocultural anthropological research. When anthropologists study sexuality, they examine how the values of a culture are expressed through sexuality practices by analyzing things like kinship systems, hierarchy, and social roles. Anthropologists are interested in not only categories of sexuality but also the purpose or function sexuality serves within a particular culture, as well as across cultures. Heterosexuality was the presumed norm in sexuality studies until the mid-twentieth century. Because of its widespread practice and its association with the reproduction of human life, heterosexuality has also been connected to the sustainment of human culture. Although widespread, heterosexuality varies across cultures, and anthropology has significantly contributed to understanding these differences.
This chapter discusses anthropological studies of non-Western and Indigenous sexualities that question the status of heteronormativity as a global model of social organization. Questioning the status of heteronormativity, however, does not mean that heterosexual kinship and the reproductive unit are not prominent features of nearly all cultures. Rather, this study of global sexualities shows the pertinence of questioning the imperative to be heterosexual. Instead of dismissing nonheteronormative sexuality as an outlier or anomaly, this chapter pursues culturally and historically specific data on different cultures across the globe to examine how LGBTQ+ anthropology posits the integral social function of these other sexualities.
Anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures. One of its subfields is sociocultural anthropology, which explores cultural variation, norms, and values. This subfield is the focus of this chapter, with an emphasis on sociocultural ethnographic studies of gender and sexuality. Ethnography is the systematic study of human cultures and is the primary qualitative research method used by anthropologists. Sociocultural anthropologists use ethnography’s immersive, experiential techniques to glean valuable knowledge about human be