(BKREV) RePlacing Citizenship: AIDS Activism and Radical Democracy

(BKREV) RePlacing Citizenship: AIDS Activism and Radical Democracy

Guilford Press, 72 Spring St., New York, NY 10012. 222p., illus., bibliog., index. (Mappings: Society/Theory/Space--A Guilford Series). ISBN 1-57230-210-0, 1-57230-222-4pbk. $42.95, $18.95pbk.
Michael P. Brown. 1997.

"AIDS activism and queer politics both stemmed from and continued to perpetuate a crisis in the gay and lesbian civil rights movement, which for a decade or more has been accused of failing to recognize that liability among political actors is the present condition of social politics." Michael Brown has presented the groundwork for a new way of understanding the relationship of this activism and the state. "He retains the notion of citizenship--the prescriptive and resistant practices that relate body to nation through rights, duties, responsibilities, and membership--but asks us to notice that the backdrop against which we see citizenship at play--the state, civil society, and family--is also fragmenting, acting incoherently, and constantly re-appearingin new hybrid forms." He argues that activists must look at all aspects of citizenship in order to understand this theory of the state or of citizenship.

The seven chapter headings point the way to delving into this difficult aspect of AIDS activism: "New Spaces of Radical Citizenship," "AIDS and the Gay Community in Vancouver," "Radical Citizenship in Civil Society?: ACTing UP in Vancouver," "From Civil Society to State Apparatus: Shifting Spaces in the Voluntary Sector," "From the Home to the State: Just Being There as a Buddy," "From Family to Civil Society: Citizenship at the Quilt Display," and "Conclusion: Where has the Citizen Gone?" Brown en ds his book with a quote from Vito Russo in 1992: "AIDS is not what it appears to be at this moment in history. It is more than just a disease that ignorant people have turned into an excuse to exercise bigotry they already feel. It is more than a horr or story to be exploited by the tabloids. AIDS is a test of who we are as a people." How true it was then and still is today. As long as we have the likes of Reverend Phelps and the increasing number of listservs on the internet, gays and lesbians are going to be exploited, slammed, and harassed. A highly recommended book for all libraries.

Keywords: Social Aspects; British Columbia

Copyright (c) 1999 - Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Reviews may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, redistribution , or translation, address requests to H. Robert Malinowsky, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, PO Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680 or electronically to hrm@uic.edu.
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Copyright © 1999 - The University of Illinois at Chicago. All materials in the journal are subject to copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, redistribution, or translation, address requests to H. Robert Malinowsky, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, PO Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680 or electronically to hrm@uic.edu.

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