Severs, George J. (2020) Reticence and the queer past. Oral History 48 (1), pp. 45-56. ISSN 0143-0955.
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Abstract
This article uses a moment of discomposure and reticence within an interview with an openly gay Church of England priest about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in England to discuss 'queer reticence', namely the extent to which a mutually imagined 'queer past' shaped the interview. I question why my interviewee was reluctant to speak about the death of a monk in his care, and of my unwillingness to question him further. I then discuss how the building up of a public queer image and the construction of a queer past, especially around the HIV/AIDS epidemic, can result in silences, discomposure and moments of reticence which are anchored in a personal and political deference to an imagined and highly desirable queer history, one which was especially difficult to broach intergenerationally.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | reticence, memory, HIV/AIDS, queer history, intergenerational |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies |
| Depositing User: | George Severs |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Nov 2021 14:14 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Jul 2025 15:36 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/46531 |
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