An "Open Mesh of Possibilities": Thinking Queerness with Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s Archive

INTRODUCTION

A black and white photograph of a middle-aged woman wearing a scarf, looking down at the scarf she is holding.

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, portrait by H. A. Sedgwick.

This exhibit explores the multifaceted ways in which Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1950 – 2009) brings queerness into her creative and intellectual life. A poet, literary critic, artist, mentor, professor, and former faculty member at Duke University, Sedgwick is perhaps best known as one of the founders of the field of Queer theory. During the 1990s, Queer theory emerged in academia in the U.S. at the intersection of AIDS activism and critical theory to challenge the way that sexuality had been traditionally understood. Insisting on “queerness” as a sensibility and not a settled identity, Sedgwick’s scholarship on gender and sexuality inaugurated new ways of thinking about intimacy, politics, and the role of affect in creativity and everyday life.

To celebrate the transformational power of Sedgwick’s thinking across creative modes, objects in the exhibit are primarily selected from her archive. Housed within the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture in the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Papers comprise scholarly and personal writings, poetry, AIDS and breast cancer activism, teaching materials, research files, and artwork of various media.

This exhibit invites us to reflect on the many forms of queerness in Sedgwick’s writing, teaching, and art as well as the particular political, personal, and scholarly moment of their creation.

All materials shown are from the Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Collection and created by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick unless otherwise noted. All art objects and book covers were photographed by Kevin Ryan, exceptions are designated by an asterisks (*).


It's Easter vacation in the public schools, so both of them are home for the day, but mother has a piece of school news (from where?) to share, to talk over. It's about the delectable Monsieur O. who, it turns out, won't be back after vacation. Well, he's in hot water. Been arrested. It's a long—

But these are, after all, after everything, two women who really know and pretty much trust each other. It's not just a long story. Does Eve know that there's such a thing as men who love other men "the same way most men love women"?

No, I didn't know that.

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, “A Poem is Being Written,” 131

A girl with short curly red hair, wearing a light blue and white mixed vest, smiling.

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. “A Poem Is Being Written.” Representations, no. 17, 1987, pp. 110-143.

This quote is from one of Sedgwick’s published essays. She describes learning about homosexuality for the first time when her middle school French teacher was arrested for being gay. In the essay, Sedgwick reflects on how this experience taught her about homophobia as well.

Photograph of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick in Middle School. 1963. 


We would like to thank the Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Foundation for providing contextual information and language for many of the descriptive labels. Additional information may be found on the Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Foundation’s website: www.evekosofskysedgwick.net

This exhibit was curated by Katherine Carithers, Ph.D. candidate, English with the assistance of Laura Micham, Director of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture and Curator of Gender and Sexuality History Collections, along with support from: 
 
Taylor Black, Assistant Professor of English, Duke University  
Meg Brown, Head, Exhibition Services and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Exhibits Librarian, Duke University  
Michael Daul, Digital Projects Developer, Duke University  
Jason Edwards, Professor of Art History, University of York 
Barbara Halla, Ph.D. student in Romance Studies, Duke University 
Henry Hebert, Conservator for Special Collections, Duke University  
Yoon Kim, Senior Library Exhibition Technician, Duke University  
Kimberly Kay Lamm, Associate Professor in the Program of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Duke University  
Sarah McCarry, Executive Director of the Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Foundation 
Mary Mellon, Metadata Archivist, Duke University
Rachel Penniman, Conservation Specialist, Duke University  
H.A. Sedgwick 
Helen Solterer, Professor of Romance Studies, Duke University  
Aaron Welborn, Director of Communications, Duke University  
Robyn Wiegman, Professor of the Programs in Literature and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, Duke University  
Kelly Wooten, Research Services and Collection Development Librarian, Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture, Duke University  
Grace Zayobi, Exhibition Intern, Duke University  
 
The design was created by nida ekenel. Ben Alper printed and installed the “wraps” on walls. 
 
We would like to thank the following donors and sponsors: 
H.A. Sedgwick 
The Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture 
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Foundation 
Duke Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies 
Duke Program in Literature 
Duke Department of English 
Franklin Humanities Institute 
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation 

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