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José Muñoz: Queer Utopianism and Cruel Optimism

Looking at the photography of Mark Morrisroe, José Muñoz compares and contrasts queer utopianism with Lauren Berlant’s cruel optimism in this excerpt from the April 12, 2011 “Public Feelings Salon.” The salon featured a conversation with Lauren Berlant, José Muñoz, Ann Pellegrini and Tavia Nyong’o, moderated by Janet Jakobsen. Full-length video of the event is available here.

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The Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW) engages our communities through programming, projects, and publications that advance intersectional social justice feminist analyses and generate steps toward social transformation. BCRW is a center for research under the auspices of the AAUP Principles of Academic Freedom and, thus, nothing published on this website reflects the views of Barnard College as an institution.

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