Colonialisms and Queer Politics: Sexualities, Genders, and Unsettling Colonialities

Across global queer activism and literature from the social sciences and humanities, the impact of empires on the regulation of sexuality and gender is an emergent theme. While there has been a considerable focus on British colonial criminal law, there is a need to investigate and compare the diverse forms of power and control adopted across the histories of European empires.

In Colonialisms and Queer Politics, Sonia Corrêa, Gustavo Gomes da Costa, and Matthew Waites provide a groundbreaking comparative analysis of empires and colonialities with respect to sexuality and gender diversity. Including contributions from an international team of authors, chapters focus on eleven empires: Portuguese, Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Ottoman, Russian, Belgian, German, Italian, and United States. Starting from the fifteenth century, authors explore how colonial racial hierarchies, gender norms, and heteronormativity structured relations between colonizing and colonized societies. The chapters reveal extreme variation in the regulation of sexualities, genders, and race, and shed light on the impacts of religious differences across colonialisms. The chapters also investigate continuing colonialities, particularly effects on contemporary governmental regulation and LGBTIQ+ activisms. By comparing both the histories and legacies of empires following formal decolonizations, Colonialisms and Queer Politics offers an essential contribution to the study and advancement of contemporary queer politics.