The Dramedy in Queer of Color

Abstract

This essay explores how the distinct sexual economy of queer sex publics shapes black queer subjectivity. Focusing on how the illicit economies of the street and the illicit sexual labor of black same-sex desiring men overlap in queer sex publics, sometimes posing a threat to black men engaging in such “risky” sexual activity, this chapter argues that black queer subjectivity emerges precisely within these spatiotemporal entanglements of death and desire. Through close readings of two short stories by Jamaican-American gay author G. Winston James, the first scholarly treatment of his work to date, the author explores literary representations of black gay protagonists who encounter death while cruising for sex. The author ultimately calls for a queer reading practice that holds representations of death, oftentimes central to black queer narratives, in critical tension with representations of black queer desire.