The Sexual Politics of Empire

"A captivating work of cultural history, offering a window into how the nation is perceived by foreign powers as well as how it perceives itself.An inventive and astute dissection of Haiti’s evolving notions of sexual identity." --Kirkus Reviews

"In The Sexual Politics of Empire, Erin L. Durban asks how same-sex desiring and gender creative Haitians pursue their world-making projects in the midst of the necropolitics of US empire, inviting readers to confront the politics of the present so as to sustain different possible futures."--Janet R. Jakobsen, author of The Sex Obsession: Perversity and Possibility in American Politics

“Durban's pioneering work ventures where angels fear to tread. Context is everything. It is about the dance, a negotiation between our indigenous selves and westernizing forces where new identities live, between the 4 Ms--Masisi, Madivin, MakomÈ, Miks--and a global LGBT movement.”--Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, author of In the Shadow of Powers: Dantes Bellegarde in Haitian Social Thought "Durban's book presents a penetrating analysis of homophobia in Haiti and links it to an ongoing imperial agenda of the US government. Her insight into the nature of same sex desiring and gender creative people and the challenges they face in a society fraught with interference from different religious sects as well as international LGBTQIA+ organizations is not only masterly, but she is able to make an incisive argument for the need to look beyond superficial reasons of race and gender." --Feminist Encounters "A clearly written and moving new book grounded by extensive ethnographic research. . . As the first book-length enthography in the subfield of queer Haitian studies, The Sexual Politics of Empire marks a foundational contribution." --American Ethnologist "As the first book-length ethnography in the subfield of queer Haitian studies, The Sexual Politics of Empire marks a foundational contribution." --American Ethnologist