{{short description|American academic}} {{pp-pc1}} {{Infobox academic |name = David Halperin |image = David M. Halperin.jpg |caption = Halperin in 2000 |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|4|2}} |birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |education = Oberlin College (BA)<br>Stanford University (MA, PhD) |workplaces = University of Michigan }} '''David M. Halperin''' (born April 2, 1952) is an American theorist in the fields of gender studies, queer theory, critical theory, material culture and visual culture. He is the cofounder of ''GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies'', and author of several books including ''Before Pastoral'' (1983) and ''One Hundred Years of Homosexuality'' (1990).
==Early life and education== David Halperin was born on April 2, 1952, in Chicago, Illinois.<ref name="guggenheim">{{cite web |url= http://www.gf.org/fellows/6088-david-m-halperin |title= David M. Halperin |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131102195930/http://www.gf.org/fellows/6088-david-m-halperin |archive-date= November 2, 2013 |publisher= John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |access-date= November 2, 2013}}</ref> He graduated from Oberlin College in 1973, having studied abroad at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in 1972–1973.<ref name="resume">{{cite web|url=https://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/complit/Home/People/Faculty/halperin-cv.pdf |first=David M. |last=Halperin |date=November 17, 2010 |title=Curriculum Vitae |publisher=University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808053918/https://www.lsa.umich.edu/UMICH/complit/Home/People/Faculty/halperin-cv.pdf |archive-date=2014-08-08 }}</ref> He received his PhD in Classics and Humanities from Stanford University in 1980.<ref name="guggenheim"/><ref name="resume"/><ref name="faculty">{{cite web |url =http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/people/profile.asp?ID=254 |title =Faculty webpage |publisher =University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts |access-date =November 2, 2013 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20131103101221/http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/people/profile.asp?ID=254 |archive-date =November 3, 2013 |url-status =dead }}</ref>
==Career== In 1977, Halperin served as Associate Director of the Summer Session of the School of Classical Studies at the American Academy in Rome.<ref name="resume"/> From 1981 to 1996, he served as Professor of Literature at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.<ref name="guggenheim"/><ref name="resume"/> Alongside Tina Passman, Halperin was one of the first co-chairs of the Lesbian and Gay Classical Caucus, now Lambda Classical Caucus, which was founded in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lambda Classical Caucus|url=https://www.lambdacc.org/officers.html|access-date=2022-02-22|website=www.lambdacc.org}}</ref> In 1994, he taught at the University of Queensland, and in 1995 at Monash University.<ref name="resume"/> From 1996 to 1999, he was a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of New South Wales.<ref name="guggenheim"/> He is currently W. H. Auden Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of the History and Theory of Sexuality, Professor Emeritus of English Language and Literature, and Professor Emeritus of Women's and Gender Studies.
In 1991, he co-founded the academic journal ''GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies'', and served as its editor until 2006.<ref name="guggenheim"/><ref>{{cite book |first= David M. |last= Halperin |title= How to Do the History of Homosexuality |edition= Paperback |location= Chicago |publisher= University of Chicago Press |year= 2004 |at= Back cover}}</ref> His work has been published in the ''Journal of Bisexuality'', ''Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture'', ''Journal of Homosexuality'', ''Michigan Feminist Studies'', ''Michigan Quarterly Review'', ''Representations'', the ''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'', ''Ex Aequo'', ''UNSW Tharunka'', ''Australian Humanities Review'', ''Sydney Star Observer'', ''The UTS Review'', ''Salmagundi'', ''Blueboy'', ''History and Theory'', ''Diacritics'', ''American Journal of Philology'', ''Classical Antiquity'', ''Ancient Philosophy'', ''Yale Review'', ''Critical Inquiry'', ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', ''American Notes & Queries'', ''London Review of Books'', ''Journal of Japanese Studies'', ''Partisan Review'', and ''Classical Journal''.<ref name="resume"/>
He has been a Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome and a Fellow at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina, as well as a fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center, the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University in Canberra, and at the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University.<ref name="guggenheim"/> In 2008–2009, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.<ref name="guggenheim"/> He received the Michael Lynch Service Award from the Gay and Lesbian Caucus at the Modern Language Association, as well as the Distinguished Editor Award from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.<ref name="guggenheim"/> In 2011–2012, he received the Brudner Prize at Yale University.<ref name="brudner">{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lgbts/brudner |title=Brudner Prize announcements |publisher= Yale University |date= September 19, 2013 |access-date= November 2, 2013}}</ref>
Halperin is openly gay.<ref name="apq">{{cite web | url = http://apq.anu.edu.au/qas/qas-fullprogram.pdf | title = International Conference of Asian Queer Studies | access-date = February 9, 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080718184634/http://apq.anu.edu.au/qas/qas-fullprogram.pdf | archive-date = July 18, 2008 }}</ref> In 1990, he launched a campaign to oppose the presence of the ROTC on the MIT campus, on the grounds that it discriminated against gay and lesbian students.<ref>{{cite news |first= Peter R. |last= Silver |title= MIT Students Criticize ROTC |newspaper= The Harvard Crimson |date= March 17, 1990 |url= http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1990/3/17/mit-students-criticize-rotc-pabout-1500/ }}</ref> That same year, he received death threats for his gay activism.<ref>{{cite news |first= Jeremy |last= Hylton |title= Halperin Receives Death Threats |newspaper= The Tech |location= Massachusetts Institute of Technology |date= November 30, 1990 |url= http://tech.mit.edu/V110/N54/death.54n.html |archive-date= March 5, 2016 |access-date= November 13, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160305135813/http://tech.mit.edu/V110/N54/death.54n.html |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= Samuel Jay |last= Keyser |title= Campus harassment legal but hurtful |date= February 8, 1991 |url= http://tech.mit.edu/V111/N3/keyser.03o.html |newspaper= The Tech |location= Massachusetts Institute of Technology |archive-date= March 5, 2016 |access-date= November 13, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160305135157/http://tech.mit.edu/V111/N3/keyser.03o.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> In 2003, the Michigan chapter of the American Family Association tried to ban his course 'How to Be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation.'<ref>{{cite news |title= Gay Class Causes Culture Clash |publisher= Fox News |date= August 18, 2003 |url= https://www.foxnews.com/story/gay-class-causes-culture-clash }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= Jameson |last= Fitzpatrick |url= http://www.nextmagazine.com/content/david-halperin-wants-recruit-you |title= David Halperin Wants to Recruit You |work= Next Magazine |date= August 10, 2012 |access-date= August 14, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121108191348/http://www.nextmagazine.com/content/david-halperin-wants-recruit-you |archive-date= November 8, 2012 |url-status= dead }}</ref> In 2010, he wrote an open letter to Michigan's 52nd Attorney General Mike Cox to denounce the homophobic harassment by one of the latter's staffers, Andrew Shirvell, of a University of Michigan student, Chris Armstrong.<ref>{{cite news |first= David |last= Halperin |title= An Open Letter: Dear Attorney General |newspaper= The Michigan Daily |location= University of Michigan |date= September 19, 2010 |url= http://www.michigandaily.com/content/letter-editor-dear-mr-cox}}</ref>
==Work==
===Genealogy of homosexuality=== Halperin uses the method of genealogy to study the history of homosexuality. He argues that Aristophanes' speech in Plato's ''Symposium'' does not indicate a "taxonomy" of heterosexuals and homosexuals comparable to modern ones. Medieval historian John Boswell has criticized Halperin's arguments.<ref name="Boswell">{{cite book |last= Boswell |first= John |editor-last= Duberman |editor-first= Martin Bauml |title=Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |year=1991 |page=25 |isbn=0-14-014363-7 }}</ref>
===''One Hundred Years of Homosexuality''=== {{main|One Hundred Years of Homosexuality}} Halperin's book was published in 1990,<ref name="Halperin">{{cite book |last=Halperin |first=David M. |title=One Hundred Years of Homosexuality: And Other Essays on Greek Love |url=https://archive.org/details/onehundredyearso0000halp |url-access=registration |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1990 |pages=iv, 15 |isbn=0-415-90097-2 }}</ref> two years before the centenary of Charles Gilbert Chaddock's English translation of Richard von Krafft-Ebing's ''Psychopathia Sexualis''. Chaddock is credited with the first use of the term "homosexual" in English in this translation.<ref name="Ackerman">{{cite book |last= Ackerman |first= Susan |title=When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |page=5 |isbn=0231132603 }}</ref> Halperin believes that the introduction of this term marks an important change in the treatment and consideration of homosexuality.<ref name="Halperin" /> The book collects six essays by the author. The first essay gives the book its title.
== Reception by the academic community ==
===Accusations of plagiarism=== Didier Eribon demanded that his name be withdrawn as a recipient of the 2008 Brudner Prize because he did not want to be associated with Halperin, who won the Brudner for his book ''What Do Gay Men Want?'' and whom Eribon accused of plagiarizing Eribon's work, ''Une morale du minoritaire''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://bibliobs.nouvelobs.com/actualites/20110525.OBS3900/affaire-de-plagiat-didier-eribon-rend-son-brudner-prize.html |title=Affaire de plagiat: Didier Eribon rend son Brudner Prize |work=Le nouvel Observateur |language= fr|date=May 26, 2011 |access-date=May 28, 2011}}</ref><ref name=lexpress>{{cite news |url=http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/didier-eribon-s-estime-plagie-et-ne-veut-plus-de-son-brudner-prize_996941.html |title=Didier Eribon s'estime plagié et ne veut plus de son Brudner Prize |work=L'Express |first=Emmanuelle |last=Alfeef |date=May 27, 2011 |access-date=May 28, 2011 |language= fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://yagg.com/2011/05/26/affaire-de-plagiat-didier-eribon-rend-son-brudner-prize-de-luniversite-de-yale/ |title=Affaire de plagiat: Didier Eribon rend son Brudner Prize de l'université de Yale |work=Yagg |first=Christophe |last=Martet |language= fr|date=May 26, 2011 |access-date=May 28, 2011}}</ref> According to ''L'Express'' in 2011, Halperin had not yet responded to Eribon's claims.<ref name=lexpress />
=== Criticism by Camille Paglia ===
In her 1991 essay "Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders: Academe in the Hour of the Wolf", Camille Paglia finds in Halperin's work a prototypical example of rampant careerism in the humanities. Paglia observes that Halperin's generation of academics is prone to a "contemporary parochialism" that eagerly cites hot-off-the-press articles without attempting to critically assess their objective merit in light of the intellectual tradition. Paglia accuses Halperin of assembling a pastiche of the latest faddish opinions and marketing it as a book, not for the sake of advancing the cause of truth, but with no other aim than career advancement. She compares such scholarship to junk bonds, a highly volatile investment.<ref name="bu">{{cite web|url=https://www.bu.edu/arion/files/2017/09/Arion-Camille-Paglia-Junkbonds-Corporate-Raiders.pdf|date=2002-03-02|title=Junk Bonds and Corporate Raiders: Academe in the Hour of the Wolf|author=Camille Paglia|accessdate=2019-09-12}}</ref> Paglia's long review article was itself criticised in the following issue of ''Arion'' by W. Ralph Johnson and Thomas Van Nortwick.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=W. Ralph|last2=Van Nortwick|first2=Thomas|last3=Ferrini|first3=Vincent|date=1991|title=Forum|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20163499|journal=Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics|volume=1|issue=3|pages=223–228|jstor=20163499|issn=0095-5809|via=}}</ref>
Since Paglia's critique, Halperin has gone on to publish four monographs and co-edited two volumes of queer criticism.
==Publications== * {{cite book |title= Before Pastoral: Theocritus and the Ancient Tradition of Bucolic Poetry |location= New Haven |publisher= Yale University Press |year= 1983}} * {{cite book |title= Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World |others= Edited with John J. Winkler and Froma I. Zeitlin |location= Princeton |publisher= Princeton University Press |year= 1990}} * {{cite book |title= One Hundred Years of Homosexuality: and Other Essays on Greek Love |location= New York |publisher= Routledge |year= 1990}} * {{cite book |title= The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader |others= Edited with Henry Abelove and Michele Aina Barale |location= New York |publisher= Routledge |year= 1993}} * {{cite book |title= Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography |location= New York |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 1995 }} * {{cite book |title= How to Do the History of Homosexuality |url= https://archive.org/details/howtodohistoryof00halp |url-access= registration |location= Chicago |publisher= University of Chicago Press |year= 2002|isbn= 9780226314471 }} * {{cite book |title= What Do Gay Men Want? An Essay on Sex, Risk, and Subjectivity |location= Ann Arbor |publisher= University of Michigan Press |year= 2007}} * {{cite book |title= Gay Shame |others= Edited with Valerie Traub |location= Chicago |publisher= University of Chicago Press |date= 2009}} * {{cite book |title= How to Be Gay |location= Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher= Belknap Press |year= 2012}}<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066793 |title= How To Be Gay, David M. Halperin |publisher= Harvard University Press |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131103215446/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674066793 |archive-date= November 3, 2013 |access-date= November 2, 2013}}</ref> * ''The War on Sex''. Edited with Trevor Hoppe. Durham: Duke University Press. 2017.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://mcommunity.umich.edu/person/halperin David Halperin] at the University of Michigan {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halperin, David M.}} Category:1952 births Category:American academic journal editors Category:American academics of English literature Category:American classical scholars Category:American gay writers Category:LGBTQ people from Illinois Category:LGBTQ people from Michigan Category:Gay academics Category:Living people Category:MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty Category:Academic staff of Monash University Category:Oberlin College alumni Category:Academics from Chicago Category:Queer theorists Category:Stanford University alumni Category:University of Michigan faculty Category:Academic staff of the University of New South Wales Category:Academic staff of the University of Queensland