Queer pleasures: Some thoughts

Queer praxis is often conceptualized as a creative construction of alternative ways of being; a strategic practice of self‐(trans)formation. The practice of queer pleasures constitutes one such mode of possibility. Within this model, queer pleasures represent the threshold of a politics that promises a radical confrontation with inhibiting normalities. Yet by applying political priorities to pleasure, and by incessantly equating pleasure with the sexual, there is a risk of re‐establishing hierarchies and conventions, and, moreover, of reinforcing a notion of the subject as self‐transparent, autonomous and intentionally motivated. This paper explores some of the dimensions of pleasure that this politics tends to ignore—the trivial, quotidian, accidental, embarrassing, boring, insignificant, mediocre—and asks whether this overlooking is accidental or a structural inevitability. I will explore queer's investment in the politics of pleasure, and speculate about alternatives     

Book note

David Keys: Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World. New York, Ballentine Books, 1999     

Probiotics in Tanzania: a multi-partner development project

This article critically examines an HIV/AIDS development and research project in Mwanza, Tanzania. A group of women produce a type of probiotic yoghurt that has provided evidence of lowering the incidence of HIV infection. The yoghurt is consumed by the women, their family members, and local citizens living with HIV/AIDS; surplus is sold within the community. While the project's multi-partner, multi-disciplinary composition allows for varied expertise and insights, it also requires open and collaborative dialogue. This article discusses the project's challenges, positive outcomes, and some of the socio-cultural issues that need to be addressed if it expands in size and/or scope.