Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: “Feeling Like a Woman, Looking Like a Man, Sounding Like a No-No:” Grace Jones’s Eccentric Sexuality”

     The darling of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, Grace Jones is often associated with white gay male subculture. Yet we can see the sign of Grace in the vocal stylings of Nona Hendrix and Nena Cherry in the late 1980’s; in the stagecraft of Tina Turner’s post-Ike renaissance; and in the sartorial and sexual outrageousness of RuPaul and perhaps even Lil’ Kim and Foxy Browne in the 1990s,  moving into the twenty-first century. And we can also see Grace Jones explicitly referenced in African American and Caribbean art that might be outside of the realm of “entertainment”: New York visual and performance artist Lyle Ashton Harris’s “Memoirs of Hadrian #19” and Postmodern cubist Caribbean poet Deborah Richards, in “The Halle Berry One-Two,” for example. In Grace Jones’ work and that of the other black artists influenced by her, we see the wedding of disco and punk; art and fashion; male and female, animal and human, and human and machine to create new notions of black sexuality.
      Grace Jones counters and surpasses traditional notions of gendered erotic performances- for black women in particular-  by occupying and performing the image of  the black female body as “Strange” or “eccentric.”  Here, I call on Carla Peterson’s definition of “eccentric,” “insisting on its double meaning: the first evokes a circle not concentric with another, an axis not centrally placed (according to the dominant system), whereas the second extends the notion of off-centeredness to suggest freedom of movement stemming from the lack of central control and hence new possibilities of difference conceived as empowering oddness.” (Peterson xii).  Jones’ use of drag puts her into the larger history of African Diaspora performers using gender in complex ways. Jones’ drag and other techniques of performing identity pose challenges of readability. She is, in many ways a trickster figure, sliding out of grasp of both her fans and critics. Like three other trickster performers of color who rose to prominence during the same period of the 1980’s and early 1990’s– visual artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose works and life constantly poke fun at fears of black sexual potency; performance artist Coco Fusco, whose 1992 collaborations with Guillermo Gómez-Pena, the “Two Undiscovered Amerindians” series, document the “irony of having to demonstrate one’s humanity “ through over the top staged performances of the “savage” on display; and rapper Flavor Flav, “sideman” for the group Public Enemy, whose manic comic persona fueled the critical fire of many of Public Enemy’s most potent political songs-- – Jones uses an outsized, “eccentric” public persona—one that often risks caricature – to lobby critique and to express anger and ultimately, agency. In this  talk, I will explore Jones’ eccentric sexuality in the cultural context of the 1980’s and 1990’s, and the implications of her performances on recent theoretical discourses of transgender identity, drag and desire. 

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this paper we examine how trait perceptions of political leaders interact with the image of political parties. Perceptions of leader personality have been shown to determine citizens’ evaluations and vote preferences (Funk 1996). The main dimensions of competence, integrity, leadership and warmth offer significant information about how citizens think of their leaders. However, we do not know much about how much the image of political parties is determined by their leaders’ trait profiles. In parliamentary democracies, where citizens vote for particular parties and not particular candidates, understanding the determinants of party perceptions is important. This question is particularly timely in the context of more personalized and candidate centered politics and addresses one of the main puzzles of Dutch electoral behavior: the relative impact of parties and candidates on electoral outcomes. We use survey data collected in the Netherlands in 2006 and show that even in a political system where leaders are not very visible, citizens pay attention to the personality traits of their leaders and can provide distinct evaluations on the basis of competence, leadership, integrity, and warmth. We also show that the evaluations of leaders are related to how citizens evaluate their political parties. While competence is the most important criterion among voters in their evaluation of their party candidate, perceptions of competence and integrity of a political leader can boost the evaluation of one’s party. On the other hand, solid party reputations of integrity can strengthen their leader evaluations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study investigated which speech act is more preferred in favor asking between apologies and thanks in the US and Japan and further attempted to explore how positive and negative face concerns (Brown & Levinson, 1987) relate to preferences for apologies or thanks. For these goals, two survey studies were conducted. In study 1, 152 participants were asked to compose an email message for a situation where a favor was asked. In study 2, 634 participants were asked to fill out one of four versions of a questionnaire, which included a prototype of an email message for the situation described in study 1 and negative and positive face threats measurements. The findings showed that 1) a greater number of Japanese included apologies in their favor asking messages while a greater number of American messages contained, 2) Americans had stronger intentions to use thanks in their favor asking messages than did Japanese, whereas Japanese had stronger intentions to use an apology than Americans did, and 3) including an apology and/or thanks reduced the amount of some types of face threat perceived in favor asking message. Finally, implications and future research directions were discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A major limitation of the relational communication literature has been the conflation of love and liking. The purpose of the present study is to conceptually and operationally differentiate between love and liking and to apply those concepts to a larger study of relational unrequitedness. The authors further created and validated a measure of liking consistent with the conceptual definition presented herein. As hypothesized, the authors found that individuals who continued to experience feelings of liking for the target of their affection were unlikely to perceive high levels of relational unrequitedness.

Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: This essay will examine how "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila," the most most watched series on MTV in the 2007-2008 television season, functions narratively to inscribe heteronormative ideals within an otherwise non-heterosexual framework in the reality dating show genre. "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" brought the American viewing populace the first bisexual dating show in October 2007. However, a close reading of the show demonstrates that the bisexual bachelorette, Tila Tequila, simultaneously opens up alternative sexual expression and dating styles while also relying on traditional gender roles that bifurcate romantic relationships into masculine and feminine categories. Controversy has clouded the success of "A Shot at Love," as Tila has had to defend her bisexual status as not simply a ratings ploy, but as a valid component of her identity. As such, this essay is grounded in Butler's performative theory of sexuality to investigate the ways Tila Tequila constructs her TV persona as a bisexual young woman looking for true love. Moreover, the essay interrogates the political economic contstraints of sexuality discourse on "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila," which is part of the Viacom conglomerate. Through a narrative analysis of the 10-episode series and samples of Tila Tequila's public responses about her bisexuality, the author hopes to engage queer scholarship in one of the most successful televisual genres today.