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manwithanagenda's review
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Scott Herring was dissatisfied with queer studies' narrow take on rural life, often defined as everything not NYC, SF and sometimes Chicago living, and that take being that one must escape from it at all costs. Herring deconstructs this "metronormativity" using a variety of examples from widely different fields of study and with a sociological dictionary. He explains how this myth of the "big city" came about and how it has been perpetuated, marginalizing everyone and everything that doesn't fit the mold.
Whenever I read social theory or cultural studies books I'm both exasperated and tolerant of the at-first-glance redundant definitions and explanations that clutter the chapters. They're a necessary evil in academic writing, especially when they're tackling as slippery and pervasive a subject as 'Another Country's. Without developing and sustaining that shorthand, an author risks making a lot of assumptions and losing the point. Herring does his level best to keep his tone light, but this fascinating book is not for casual consumption.
Some background is given in the introduction and chapter one, but Herring mostly concerns himself with the late 20th century. He makes good use of contrasts, 'Country Living' and early 'R.F.D.'s deliberately rustic art and sloppy type against the slick, bleached clones of early 'Advocate' subscription ads; the voyeuristic response to nude photographs of self-described rednecks and their classical and early modern inspirations; the navel-gazing centers of fashion and the places that actually inspire it; and Alison Bechdel's conversion to and rejection of the metronormative myth in 'Fun Home'. This all bears going into more, the book gave me a lot to think about.
Whenever I read social theory or cultural studies books I'm both exasperated and tolerant of the at-first-glance redundant definitions and explanations that clutter the chapters. They're a necessary evil in academic writing, especially when they're tackling as slippery and pervasive a subject as 'Another Country's. Without developing and sustaining that shorthand, an author risks making a lot of assumptions and losing the point. Herring does his level best to keep his tone light, but this fascinating book is not for casual consumption.
Some background is given in the introduction and chapter one, but Herring mostly concerns himself with the late 20th century. He makes good use of contrasts, 'Country Living' and early 'R.F.D.'s deliberately rustic art and sloppy type against the slick, bleached clones of early 'Advocate' subscription ads; the voyeuristic response to nude photographs of self-described rednecks and their classical and early modern inspirations; the navel-gazing centers of fashion and the places that actually inspire it; and Alison Bechdel's conversion to and rejection of the metronormative myth in 'Fun Home'. This all bears going into more, the book gave me a lot to think about.
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