THE POLITICS OF OTHERNESS IN THE TIME OF CRISES: REVISITING TONY KUSHNER’S ANGELS IN AMERICA

Author:

GİRİTLİ Mehmet Zeki1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. KOÇ ÜNİVERSİTESİ

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has revealed once again that the effects of health crises have been more severe for some groups compared to the others. The most prominent of these groups is non-binary or LGBTQ+ individuals who have long faced social discrimination. The disadvantaged position of LGBTQ+ people during worldwide epidemics attracted the attention of playwrights especially in 1980s and 90s. Although this could be attributed to the AIDS epidemic during the time, playwrights problematized the “otherness” issue influencing LGBTQ+ people through AIDS and the political response to it. One of the most significant of these was American playwright Tony Kushner. In “Angels in America”, Kushner put forth not only the problems of LGBTQ+ people during AIDS epidemic but also the problem of otherness in different levels as a social and political phenomenon. This article aims to explore the concepts of “responsibility” and “otherness”, which Kushner problematized in his play based on the philosophical approaches of Levinas and Benjamin, in light of the current developments regarding health crises and the political response. The article claims the disadvantaged position of minority groups during crises including AIDS and COVID-19 is more of a political issue regarding the attitudes of right-wing/conservative politics (which has not changed even today) rather than the difficulties posed by the pandemics themselves. In that respect, Kushner’s activist theatre proves to be guiding in evaluating the conditions of “the others” during the pandemic.

Publisher

Uludag Universitesi Fen Edebiyat Fakultesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Reference29 articles.

1. Abramson, M. (2020, June 1). How AIDS remained an unspoken - But deadly - Epidemic for years. https://www.history.com/news/aids-epidemic-ronald-reagan

2. Acosta, L. (2020, September 29). Trump’s failure to address Covid-19 pandemic has hit LGBTQ Americans harder than most. https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/trumps-failure-to-address-covid-19-pandemic-has-hit-lgbtq-americans-harder-than-most

3. Austin, M. (1997). Theology for the approaching millennium: “Angels in America”, activism, and the American religion. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 30(1), 25-44.

4. Banerjee, D. & Vasundhara, S. N. (2020). The untold side of COVID-19: Struggles and perspectives of the sexual minorities. Journal of Psychosexual Health, 2(2), 113-120.

5. Benjamin, W. (1968). Illuminations. (Trans: H. Zohn), H. Arendt (Ed.), Schocken Books.

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3