Flaming Souls

While there has been increased attention to issues of sexuality in the Caribbean over the past decade, there continue to be very few in-depth ethnographic studies of sexual minorities in this region. A timely addition to the literature, Flaming Souls explores public discourses focusing on homosexuality and the everyday lives of gay men and ‘queens’in contemporary Barbados.
David A.B. Murray's dynamic study features interviews with government and health agency officials, HIV/AIDS activists, and residents of the country's capital, Bridgetown. Using these and records from local libraries and archives, Murray unravels the complex historical, social, political, and economic forces through which same-sex desire, identity, and prejudice are produced and valued in this Caribbean nation-state. Illustrating the influence of both Euro-American and regional gender and sexual politics on sexual diversity in Barbados, Flaming Souls makes an important contribution to queer studies and the anthropology of sexualities.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Spectral Homosexual in Barbadian Feedback Media
Chapter 2: Gender, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS Discourses in Barbados
Chapter 3: Whose Right? Human and Sexual Rights Discourses in Barbados
Chapter 4: Gay Tourism and the 'Civilized' Homosexual
Chapter 5: Bajan Queens Nebulous Scenes
Chapter 6: Digisex: Cell Phones, Barbadian Queens and Circuits of Desire in the Caribbean
Chapter 7: Life Stories Conclusion: Flaming Souls and Imperial Debris
Notes
References
Index