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Sara Ahmed. Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Durham: Duke UP, 2006. $74.95 hc. $21.95 sc. ix + 240pp.

Article Excerpt
In her book, Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others (2006), Sara Ahmed offers a thorough and at times playful analysis of what it means to be oriented--oriented toward objects, ideas, cultures, and sexes. Though certainly not an easy read--Ahmed draws on Marxist theory, interpellation, and performativity among others in her integration of phenomenology and queer theory--this book is nevertheless inspiring, stimulating, and a pleasure to read.

Ahmed deftly renders the complexities of phenomenology and queer theory accessible to readers at varying levels of knowledge in these areas by weaving Husserl's oft-used phenomenological metaphor of the table throughout each chapter. As presented in Ideas, the writing table is something Husserl orientates himself toward and, in so doing, dictates his orientation toward other objects--the window near the table, the people in other rooms, the pen and paper he writes with on the table. He knows his orientation toward these objects in that he knows his orientation toward the table he faces, even as the table itself disappears from view. The table serves to anchor Husserl's orientation toward things. Likewise, Ahmed anchors her book to tables, tables, that dictate the orientation of her readers even as she shifts from one object of inquiry to another. As a result, this dense theoretical text will appeal to "theory-heads" and "theory-phobes" alike.

The purpose of Queer Phenomenology, Ahmed explains in the introduction, is to...

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