Samuel Clowes Huneke

Last updated

Samuel Clowes Huneke is an American historian of modern Europe, author, and essayist. He is assistant professor of history at George Mason University.

Contents

Huneke graduated from Amherst College with a bachelor's degree summa cum laude in German and Mathematics in 2011. In 2012, he earned an MSc with Distinction in Applicable Mathematics from the London School of Economics. In 2019, he earned his PhD in modern European history from Stanford University, where he studied with historian Edith Sheffer.

His first book, States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany (2022) won the Charles E. Smith Award for best book in European History from the European History Section of the Southern Historical Association. [1] He is also the author of A Queer Theory of the State (2023).

In addition to his scholarly publications, his essays have appeared in The Atlantic , The New Republic , Boston Review , and Los Angeles Review of Books . [2] [3] [4] [5]

His parents are Slavicist Edith Clowes and mathematician Craig Huneke. [6]

Works

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dictatorship</span> Form of government

A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, and they are facilitated through an inner circle of elites that includes advisers, generals, and other high-ranking officials. The dictator maintains control by influencing and appeasing the inner circle and repressing any opposition, which may include rival political parties, armed resistance, or disloyal members of the dictator's inner circle. Dictatorships can be formed by a military coup that overthrows the previous government through force or they can be formed by a self-coup in which elected leaders make their rule permanent. Dictatorships are authoritarian or totalitarian and they can be classified as military dictatorships, one-party dictatorships, personalist dictatorships, or absolute monarchies.

Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have been used to this end include forms of brain surgery, surgical or hormonal castration, aversive treatments such as electric shocks, nausea-inducing drugs, hypnosis, counseling, spiritual interventions, visualization, psychoanalysis, and arousal reconditioning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Totalitarianism</span> Extreme form of authoritarianism

Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regulation over public and private life. It is regarded as the most extreme and complete form of authoritarianism. In totalitarian states, political power is often held by autocrats, such as dictators and absolute monarchs, who employ all-encompassing campaigns in which propaganda is broadcast by state-controlled mass media in order to control the citizenry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pink triangle</span> Nazi concentration camp badge, later international symbol of gay pride and the gay rights movements

A pink triangle has been a symbol for the LGBT community, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, it began as one of the Nazi concentration camp badges, distinguishing those imprisoned because they had been identified by authorities as gay men. In the 1970s, it was revived as a symbol of protest against homophobia, and has since been adopted by the larger LGBT community as a popular symbol of LGBT pride and the LGBT movements and queer liberation movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association</span> International umbrella organization for LGBTI organizations

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) is an organization which is committed to advancing human rights to all people, disregarding gender identity, sex characteristics and expression. ILGA participates in a multitude of agendas within the United Nations, such as creating visibility for LGBTI issues by conducting advocacy and outreach at the Human Rights Council, working with members to help their government improve LGBTI rights, ensuring LGBTI members are not forgotten in international law, and advocating for LBTI women's issues at the Commission on the Status of Women.

In political science, a political system means the type of political organization that can be recognized, observed or otherwise declared by a state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratization</span> A society becoming more democratic

Democratization, or democratisation, is the democratic transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Germany</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Germany rank among the highest in the world and have evolved significantly over the course of the last decades. During the 1920s and the early 1930s, lesbian and gay people in Berlin were generally tolerated by society and many bars and clubs specifically pertaining to gay men were opened. Although same-sex sexual activity between men was already made illegal under Paragraph 175 by the German Empire in 1871, Nazi Germany extended these laws during World War II, which resulted in the persecution and deaths of thousands of homosexual citizens. The Nazi extensions were repealed in 1960 and same-sex sexual activity between men was decriminalized in both East and West Germany in 1968 and 1969, respectively.

Over the course of its history, the LGBT community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.

Communist attitudes towards LGBT rights have evolved radically in the 21st century. In the 19th and 20th century, communist parties and Marxist–Leninist states varied on LGBT rights; some Western parties were among the first political parties to support LGBT rights, while others, especially the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc, harshly persecuted people of the LGBT community.

<i>It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives</i> 1971 German film

It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives is a 1971 German avant-garde film directed by Rosa von Praunheim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Huneke</span> American mathematician

Craig Lee Huneke is an American mathematician specializing in commutative algebra. He is a professor at the University of Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James N. Green</span> American professor and historian

James Naylor Green is the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Professor of Modern Latin American History and Professor of Brazilian History and Culture at Brown University.

<i>Female Husbands: A Trans History</i> 2020 book by Jen Manion

Female Husbands: A Trans History is a history book by Jen Manion, a professor of History and Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies at Amherst College, published in 2020 by Cambridge University Press. The book won the Best Book prize from the British Association of Victorian Studies and was a finalist for the Lawrence W. Levine Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesbians in Nazi Germany</span>

In Nazi Germany, lesbians who were sent to concentration camps were often categorized as "asocial", if they had not been otherwise targeted based on their ethnicity or political stances. Female homosexuality was criminalized in Austria, but not other parts of Nazi Germany. Because of the relative lack of interest of the Nazi state in female homosexuality compared to male homosexuality, there are fewer sources to document the situations of lesbians in Nazi Germany.

Laurie Marhoefer is a historian of queer and trans politics who is employed as the Jon Bridgman Endowed Professor of History at the University of Washington. In January 2021, together with Jennifer V. Evans, they facilitated the Jack and Anita Hess Research Seminar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on LGBTQ+ histories of the Holocaust.

Ursula Sillge is a German sociologist and LGBT activist. She organized the first national lesbian gathering in East Germany, and between 1970 and 1990 was one of the main lesbian activists in the country, pressing authorities to recognize the rights and allow visibility of the LGBT community. In 1986, she founded the Sunday Club in Berlin. It was the only secular association representing homosexuals in the 1980s, though it was not officially recognized. The organization became the first legal association to represent the LGBT community in East Germany when it was allowed to register in 1990. Sillge resigned as director of the Sunday Club in 1991 to found the LGBT archive known as the Lila Women's Archives. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, she was able to earn her doctorate. In addition to running the archives, she has published several works about homosexuality and women behind the Iron Curtain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paragraph 183</span> Provision of the German Criminal Code regarding public indecency and cross-dressing

Paragraph 183 is a public indecency law of the German Criminal Code, which prohibits "sexual self-determination" and public exhibitionism. From its adoption in 1871, at an increasing rate during the rise of the Nazis, and until as late as the mid-20th century, the law was used to enforce penalties for cross-dressing and homosexual acts. As of 2021, the law's scope is limited to indecent exposure.

The Sonntags Club, founded in 1987, was the first secular LGBT group in East Germany. The group originated out of the HIB which was banned in the late 1970s by the socialist regime. The group became the Sonntags Club in the 1980s when it went underground and began renting a meeting space only available on Sundays, hence the name. The Club was located in East Berlin, and though never officially recognized in the German Democratic Republic, its members continued to advocate for LGBT rights and freedoms in the years to follow.

Queer radicalism can be defined as actions taken by queer groups which contribute to a change in laws and/or social norms. The key difference between queer radicalism and queer activism is that radicalism is often disruptive, and commonly involves illegal action. Due to the nature of LGBTQ+ laws around the world, almost all queer activism that took place before the decriminalization of gay marriage can be considered radical action. The history of queer radicalism can be expressed through the many organizations and protests that contributed to a common cause of improving the rights and social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.

References

  1. "Section Member News" (PDF). European History Section Newsletter. 58 (2): 4. November 2022.
  2. "Samuel Huneke". The Atlantic. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  3. "Samuel Clowes Huneke". The New Republic. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  4. "Samuel Clowes Huneke". Boston Review. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  5. "Samuel Clowes Huneke". Los Angeles Review of Books Contributors. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  6. Huneke 2022, p. xiii.
  7. Griffiths, Craig (2022). "States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany". German History. doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghac077.
  8. "States of (Gay) Liberation in East Germany and West Germany". PopMatters. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  9. Ruble, Alexandria N. (2022). "States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany by Samuel Clowes Huneke (review)". Journal of History. 57 (3): 514–515. ISSN   2292-8502.
  10. Ewing, Christopher (2022). "States of Liberation: Gay Men Between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany . By Samuel Clowes Huneke". Journal of Social History. doi:10.1093/jsh/shac054.
  11. Burns, Rob; Janes, Jackson; Johnson, Jason; Nyenhuis, Robert; Wittstock, Nicolas; Olsen, Jonathan; Klikauer, Thomas; Simms, Norman; Silvia, Stephen J. (2023). "Book Reviews". German Politics and Society. 41 (1): 111–139. doi:10.3167/gps.2023.410105.