Type of Document Master's Thesis Author Greenup, Jeremy Jay Author's Email Address jgreenup14@yahoo.com URN etd-11282005-141753 Title Identity as Politics, Politics as Identity: An Anthropological Examination of the Political Discourse on Same-Sex Marriage Degree Master of Arts Department Anthropology and Geography Advisory Committee
Advisor Name Title Emanuela Guano Committee Chair Cassandra White Committee Member Kathryn A. Kozaitis Committee Member Susan McCombie Committee Member Keywords
- same-sex marriage
- heteronormativity
- queer theory
- theatricality
- political protests
Date of Defense 2005-11-17 Availability unrestricted Abstract Marriage has come to be center-stage in a semiotic and ideological “culture war.” The issue of same-sex marriage has emerged as a defining political argument shaping the manner by which the contemporary gay rights movement positions itself. In Georgia’s 2004 election, a constitutional amendment was proposed defining marriage as legal unions between only biological men and women. In response, campaigns were organized by both supporters and opponents to same-sex marriage. This thesis examines thepolitics of spectacle at play through which both sides of this argument positioned themselves.
This thesis employs anthropological theory, queer theory and public sphere literature to illuminate the campaign against same-sex marriage as one of not only the denial of citizenship rights, but of identity recognition. The methods of theatricality employed by both sides of this debate are examined alongside the manners by which they represented themselves as legitimate voices in the fight over “marriage.”
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