Esther Newton

Esther Newton, (b. 1940, New York) is an American cultural anthropologist best known for her pioneering work on the ethnography of lesbian and gay communities in the United States. Newton was born in New York. She studied history at the University of Michigan, and received her BA with distinction in 1962 before starting graduate work in anthropology at the University of Chicago under David M. Schneider.^[1]

Her PhD dissertation, "The drag queens; a study in urban anthropology" (1968), examined the experiences, social interactions, and culture of drag queens, or (mostly gay-identified) men who dressed and performed as women in various kinds of theatrical settings or as an expression/performance of their sexual identity. Later published in several articles and as Mother camp: female impersonators in America (1972), Newton's work represented the first major anthropological study of a homosexual community in the United States and also laid some of the groundwork for theorists such as Judith Butler who would later explore the performative dimensions of sex and gender roles.^[2]

Her second book, Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty years in America’s first gay and lesbian town (1993), used oral history and ethnographic methods to document the changing dynamics of Cherry Grove, a beach resort on Fire Island, New York and one of the oldest and most visible predominantly lesbian and gay communities in the United States.

She identifies as lesbian^[3][4] and is currently professor of anthropology and Kempner Distinguished Research Professor at Purchase College, State University of New York. Newton is also a Lecturer in Women's Studies and American Culture at the University if Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Esther Newton is in a long-term partnership with controversial lesbian-feminist performance artist, Holly Hughes.

While Newton was once known for her revolutionary ideas and works relating to gender identity and gay activism, her cutting-edge style has fallen slightly to the wayside. Many of her lectures (particularly those at the University of Michigan) contain very outdated content, and her once-radical feminist views now more closely resemble the antiquated stance of second wave feminism.

References

1. ^ Rubin, Gayle (2002) "Studying Sexual Subcultures: excavating the ethnography of gay communities in urban North America." In Ellen Lewin & William Leap (Eds.), Out in Theory: the emergence of lesbian and gay anthropology. Pp: 17-68. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
2. ^ Rubin, Gayle (2002) "Studying Sexual Subcultures: excavating the ethnography of gay communities in urban North America." In Ellen Lewin & William Leap (Eds.), Out in Theory: the emergence of lesbian and gay anthropology. Pp: 17-68. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
3. ^ Newton, Esther (2000) Margaret Mead made me gay: personal essays, public ideas. Durham: Duke University Press.
4. ^ Newton, Esther (forthcoming) My Butch Career: A Queer Life in Anthropology. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Select Bibliography

• Newton, Esther (1968) "The drag queens; a study in urban anthropology." PhD dissertation, University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology.
• Newton, Esther (1979) Mother camp: Female impersonators in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Originally published 1972 by Prentice-Hall]
• Newton, Esther (1993) Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty years in America’s first gay and lesbian town. Boston: Beacon Press.
• Newton, Esther (2000) Margaret Mead made me gay: personal essays, public ideas. Durham: Duke University Press.
• Newton, Esther (forthcoming) My Butch Career: A Queer Life in Anthropology. New York: St. Martin's Press.

External link

• Esther Newton faculty profile at SUNY Purchase.

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