Ghostly Desires

Queer Sexuality and Vernacular Buddhism in Contemporary Thai Cinema

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Gay Studies, Entertainment, Film, History & Criticism, Performing Arts
Cover of the book Ghostly Desires by Arnika Fuhrmann, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Arnika Fuhrmann ISBN: 9780822374251
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: May 19, 2016
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Arnika Fuhrmann
ISBN: 9780822374251
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: May 19, 2016
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Through an examination of post-1997 Thai cinema and video art Arnika Fuhrmann shows how vernacular Buddhist tenets, stories, and images combine with sexual politics in figuring current struggles over notions of personhood, sexuality, and collective life. The drama, horror, heritage, and experimental art films she analyzes draw on Buddhist-informed conceptions of impermanence and prominently feature the motif of the female ghost. In these films the characters' eroticization in the spheres of loss and death represents an improvisation on the Buddhist disavowal of attachment and highlights under-recognized female and queer desire and persistence. Her feminist and queer readings reveal the entangled relationships between film, sexuality, Buddhist ideas, and the Thai state's regulation of heteronormative sexuality. Fuhrmann thereby provides insights into the configuration of contemporary Thailand while opening up new possibilities for thinking about queer personhood and femininity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Through an examination of post-1997 Thai cinema and video art Arnika Fuhrmann shows how vernacular Buddhist tenets, stories, and images combine with sexual politics in figuring current struggles over notions of personhood, sexuality, and collective life. The drama, horror, heritage, and experimental art films she analyzes draw on Buddhist-informed conceptions of impermanence and prominently feature the motif of the female ghost. In these films the characters' eroticization in the spheres of loss and death represents an improvisation on the Buddhist disavowal of attachment and highlights under-recognized female and queer desire and persistence. Her feminist and queer readings reveal the entangled relationships between film, sexuality, Buddhist ideas, and the Thai state's regulation of heteronormative sexuality. Fuhrmann thereby provides insights into the configuration of contemporary Thailand while opening up new possibilities for thinking about queer personhood and femininity.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Asia as Method by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Native Moderns by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Chinese Visions of World Order by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Liquidated by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Radiation Brain Moms and Citizen Scientists by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Appetites by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book The Errant Art of Moby-Dick by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book La Patria del Criollo by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Anthropos and the Material by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book My Tibetan Childhood by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Cachita's Streets by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Treasured Possessions by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Postmodernism and China by Arnika Fuhrmann
Cover of the book Subalternity and Representation by Arnika Fuhrmann
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy