A Queer New York: Author Talk with Jen Jack Gieseking
A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians, Dykes, and Queers, 1983-2008 is the first lesbian and queer historical geography of New York City. In this Preservation Book Club webinar, we invited author Jen Jack Gieseking to talk about their research exploring how lesbians and queers have survived in the face of twenty-first century gentrification and urban development. A Queer New York highlights the historic significance of lesbian and queer spaces, mapping the political, economic, and geographic dispossession of an important, thriving community that once called certain New York neighborhoods home. In his presentation, Jack focuses primarily on Greenwich Village, which is also talked about in the book along with other NYC neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Park Slope.
A few things of note mentioned during the webinar:
As part of his commitment to public queer history, Jack created a companion website including interactive maps of over 3,000 lesbian and queer places and organizations that they gathered from archival sources: jgieseking.org/AQNY.
“LGBTQ Spaces and Places” is the chapter Jack contributed to the NPS LGBTQ Theme Study.
The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, “whose groundbreaking work documents historic sites connected to New York City’s LGBT community, giving life to its oft-untold history and influence on America.”
Gay Places with Dr. Jeff, a blog series from Preservation Buffalo Niagara “dedicated to celebrating and learning more about the historic LGBTQ landmarks of Western New York.”
Stone Butch Blues is a historical fiction novel written by Leslie Feinberg about life as a butch lesbian in 1970s America.
Jen Jack Gieseking is an urban cultural geographer, feminist and queer theorist, and environmental psychologist. They are Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Kentucky. His research focuses on how co-productions of space and identity in digital and material environments support and/or inhibit social, spatial, and economic justice. Jack is Managing Editor of ACME: International Journal of CriticalGeography, the only fully open access journal in geography. He is also a board member of the Rainbow Heritage Network and contributor to the National Parks Service’s LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History. They can be found on Twitter at @jgieseking or via his website jgieseking.org.
Gay Street in Greenwich Village. Jean-Christophe BENOIST via Wikimedia Commons
If you want to read the book (and we recommend it!), you can buy it here for 30% off using the code QUEERNY30.
We were thrilled to invite our colleagues at Village Preservation to join us for this event. Founded in 1980, Village Preservation works to document, celebrate, and preserve the special architectural and cultural heritage of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. You can learn more about them on their website villagepreservation.org.
Thank you to our program sponsors the Peggy N. and Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust.