Dr. Brian Mitchell Peters, PhD, MA, BA, SCT.
- Part-time faculty: literature, drama, composition , English
- Part-time faculty, PERC, Theatre
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Sign in to editResearch areas: Comparative studies, youth (sub)culture, music/performance culture, queer/gender theories, cinema and literature.
Contact information
Availability:
W/F 315-4PM drop-ins welcomed/appointments recommended during busier times.
Biography
About Me
I did my BA in English Literature and Creative writing, with a minor in Art History, at Concordia. My MA and my PhD are from Université de Montréal, in études anglaises and littérature comparée. At Concordia my big projects were on the 19th century, both art history and the Victorian novel; my MA is on the language of neo-classicism as subtext and the Edwardian world of E.M. Forster; my PhD dissertation is on American ex-pat writers in France during the 1950s and the French philosophy that influenced them.
I have published widely on many topics (from comparative literature to youth subculture, from comic books to music...) , and most publications are in popular culture and queer theory. I sit on the permanent editorial board of Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture.
Aside from my academic self, I am an ex-actor (heaps of childhood/teen musical theater--my fave, don't judge!, film work--boring beyond words, and Broadway auditions--far beyond any descriptors of excitement I could write down). I've been a musician, dabbled in stand-up comedy, and I've been a competitive athlete on/off for most of my life.
I teach both in English and Theatre at Concordia. Along with my acting past, I have two novels that are currently with a Toronto based publisher for hopeful publication. One deals with the coming of age of a college aged protagonist. Foiled off against his more outgoing besties, each chapter features a different romantic interest for him, and the narrative is done with a sense of high camp, the supermodels, haircuts, hair dye jobs, and a strong sense of humor. My most recent novel project is a love story: influenced by Call me by Your Name and Pretty in Pink, my protagonist tells a secret story from his own past that spans close to four years. Hidden in a box packed away and excavated in the prologue, my narrator shares, via photos and other memorabilia, his detailed love affair with a famous rock star that started when he was 17 and lasted 4 years from 1985 through 1988. Both novels rely on nostalgia, youth, coming of age, and love in various forms. They also feature, at least in part, New York City, where I had my first apartment on 75th and 3rd--still missed to this day!
My own academic pursuits demonstrate a career of studying, researching, writing, and publishing on queer theory and queer literature (fiction and drama), popular-culture, TV and film. I have worked extensively on comparative literature with a specialty in French post-structuralist theory and thereby gender and queer theory. I have published on queer writers like Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, as I have also published on queer youth sub-culture, music culture, masculinity, androgyny, and camp, voguing, Madonna, and the supermodels (my favorite publication to date). I am currently awaiting the release of a chapter for a colleague's collection on queer vampires; my chapter investigates the chosen family as queer family in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
As my two novels sit with a publishing house, I am hoping to bridge from academic work to creative work. I have also built an acting website to hopefully re-start acting this year (demo-reels in progress).
Teaching activities
Teaching Interests and Teaching Philosophy
My teaching interests include, but are not limited, theatre history, Shakespeare, the queer stage and queer performance, creative writing--from process to production (drama and fiction), the Victorians, and, my true favorite, the Edwardian world.
Students in my courses have become familiar with current practices in the study of literature and theatre. Interdisciplinary approaches include cultural studies, European literature in translation and film studies, and often when the course allows, studies in the late-nineteenth century and early-twentieth century. Students are thus exposed to practices of reading/viewing and thinking about literature, theatre, and film, and the ways in which such practices are a direct reflection of the social movements and realities that have shaped the worlds from the texts we study. My students have opportunities to explore course readings through their own research as they respond directly to essay/term-paper and class presentations. Materials are chosen to introduce, motivate, and challenge students. My goal is to give my students ways to read by reading critically and by being engaged and alive in my courses; I cultivate these results by the energy and professionalism I bring into my classroom. I believe teaching is interpretative performance: there are many ways to present information and lead a class, and I feel that each way is a form of pedagogical theatre and the professor is, in some ways, responsible for an academic performance that can connect the class as a whole. Most of all, my courses embody clear anti-racist, anti-homophobic/transphobic, and anti-misogynist practices, as I look for ways to de-colonize the curriculum by including materials that explore marginalized, under-represented, and disenfranchised communities.
I keep my classroom in line with the integrity for teaching great work from imperative perspectives, aware and helpful to students of assorted levels. I firmly believe that one might not want to come into a given class with a particular outcome, but, instead, allow the progression of the course to move with the group in question. This way, the instructor can reach the students in the most productive ways possible. A solid course is not just about the readings and student evaluation, but the approaches and the deliveries of the course content. In the classroom, I embody a mixture of teaching forms that, from student feedback, has been consistently successful. I teach with vigor, energy, humor, context, and highly pertinent information to the readings in a given course. My teaching is animated and professional, and I think my best compliment from my students is that I am a very strong and unique teacher, as I am both informative about what we are reading and very present in the classroom and therefore very aware of their needs as students. I firmly believe that there is a necessity to captivate a classroom and relay as much as possible to a given group, giving them as many skills possible and the best kind of education one can. Teaching is, for me, a responsibility—I truly believe that kindness, compassion, and good course content help me reach an ever-changing student body, alongside a dynamic and outgoing lecture or seminar.
Research activities
Research Areas
My research to-date has looked at the waysin which the body, in particular the marked body, can be read as queer text. Ihave examined the use of the body, the erotic significations in literature andpopular culture, as signifiers for displaced sexuality, outlined in detail inmy CV.
As the revolutionary 90s are well over, asthe permissive millennium has faded, my current research is focused on desireduring this new conservative time and the ways that queer texts, especiallywhat is understood by Victorian scholars (Richard Dellamora, Elaine Showalter)as masculine desire, have articulated very poignant representations thatattempt to question the new, rigid post-millennial social convention. I aim tosituate this current queerness within a trajectory of conservative socio-politics,an ironic combination as many people who identify as queer in one way oranother live rather out lives in ratherconservative social systems. Post-2010 queer cultural production reveals such adiscrepancy worthy of detailed exploration as it is laden with paradox,uncertainty, and related ambiguity; the strange paradigm of being out, married, and having a family inthis reductive new world will be part of my current research.
From the rise in gay-related hate crimes,something I attribute to the conservative big leaders we have seen take chargesince 2010 (Russia, France, pre-Trudeau Canada, and post-Obama United States),I have understood contemporary queer cultural production as a call, a cry even,to be seen, heard and understood away from right-wing political limitations.The result is a rich variety of representations, sometimes contemporary in timeframe, sometimes historical, that enunciate the current complications withliving in such an out time but withinsuch a problematic socio- political polemic.
My current research is based on a requestfrom a colleague: she is organizing a volume of queer vampire studies, Queering the Vampire Narrative as it istentatively titled, and has requested that I contribute a chapter. I amcurrently working on an abstract that will focus on vampire parentage as queerparenting. I will consider Carmilla, Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, and Buffythe Vampire Slayer. These texts will be used to understand the pre-andpost-liberation images of queer domesticity in the vampire text. Queerfamilies, parenting, children and their relationships with their preternaturalparents will be explored in detail, foiling the post-millennial realities thatinclude same-sex marriage and same sex parents (Michel Foucault, Eve KosofskySedgwick). I am curious to outline and investigate the ways in which Victorianand pre-millennial images of same sex parenting/families can be understood inresponse to the manifestation of the contemporary queer family and thetreatment of the non-normative family within the conservative present.
Over the span of my career, my research hasbeen very focused on gender, subculture, queer youth, and androgyny. I haveconsistently attempted to come up with critical ways to consider varyinginstances of non-normative desire in literature and popular culture. I believemy current project, outlined above, would allow me to continue such inquiries,research and writing over the next academic year, and work on the chapterrequested by a colleague for the volume indicated above. My goal would be tofit the needs of the colleague’s volume, as I have a chance to look at thesurge in queer parenting, contemporary gay and lesbian family life, and theprecursors to such realities beginning in the 19th century Gothic,millennial popular culture, and the current norm in queer domestic life—thecreation of the queer nuclear family and related same-sex domesticity. I feel Iwould be contributing to the current dialogue about non-normative nuclearfamilies and looking at queer life in a way that gives a voice to these newfamilies and their experiences in the current political climate.
Publications
Academic Publications to Date
“Fragments of Queerness and the Post-Modern Family in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Queerying the Vampire Narrative, eds.Melissa Anyiwo & Amanda Jo Hobson. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV, Summer 2022.
Sontag and theCamp Aesthetic: Advancing New Perspectives, eds.Bruce Drushel and Brian M. Peters. NY:Lexington Books, 2017.
“ThePost-Gendered Spaces of Vogue: Camp, The Supermodels, Malcolm McLaren andMadonna,” Sontag and the Camp Aesthetic: AdvancingNew Perspectives,eds. Bruce Drushel and Brian M.Peters. NY: Lexington Books, 2017.
“Androgyny, Sexuality and theDe-Politicization of Aesthetics: Duran Duran and The Second BritishInvasion,” Queer Studies in Media andPopular Culture, (Fall 2016) ed. Kylo-Patrick Hart.
“Bad Boy Vamps, Bad Girl GothicSuperheroes and the new Gothic Gay Boy: The Sexual Agency of the Post-ModernGothic in Interview with the Vampire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight andTrue Blood.” Gothic Studies, ed.Emily Alder (in-process).
“Re-Gendered Bodies and Gendered Spaces: Desire and Sexuality in Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” UnionistPopular Culture and Rolls of Honour in the North of Ireland during the FirstWorld War: a Collection of Diverse Essays in Popular Culture, ed. Nanette Norris. NY: EdwinMellen Press, 2012.
“Emo Gay Boys and Subculture: Post-punkQueer Youth and (Re)thinking Images of Masculinity,” Journal of LGBT Youth, Ed.Patricia Donofrio (Taylor & Francis/Routledge, Manuscript 480503[112.08]). 129-146
“Emo Boys,” The Boy Culture Encyclopedia, Volume 1,Ed. Shirley Steinberg. Greenwood Press.2009. 93-94
“JoelHarrison Knox (Other Voices, Other Rooms),” Student Companion to American LiteraryCharacters, eds. M.J. Bruccoli & R. Layman, 2007.
“QueerSemiotics of Expression: Gothic Language and Homosexual Destruction inTennessee Williams’ One Arm and Desire and the Black Masseur,” Tennessee Williams Annual Review(2006).
“Que(e)ryingComic Book Culture and Representations of Sexuality in Wonder Woman,”Comparative Literature & Culture:A WWWeb Journal, Vol 5.3 (2003).
“Campingthe Gothic: Queer Sexualities in Truman Capote’s Other Voices, Other Rooms,”The Journal of Homosexuality, 39.1(Winter 2000): 107-13.
“GothicQu(e)eries and Postmodern Homosexualities: The Vampire and Triangular Desire inDracula and Interview With the Vampire,” The Transylvanian Journal (Fall 1998): 23-27.
“BeyondPsycho(Analytic) Signs: Erratic Homosexualities in Timothy Findley’s TheWars,” Canadian Landscapes,McGill Institute for the Study of Canada,1996.
Participation activities
Editorial
Queer Media and Popular Culture, ed.Kylo-Patrick Hart (permanent editorial board).
The Journal of American Culture, specialedition, Volume 39, Lesbian Gay,Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Influences on American Culture. and ed.Bruce E. Drushel and Joseph Hancock, II. March 2016.
Buffy Conquers the Academy: Conference Papers from the 2009/2010 PCA/ACAA, ed. Melissa Anyiwo and KarolineSzatek-Tudor. Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars 2013.
Journalof Homosexuality, CERES: San Francisco State University, special editon HIV/AIDS inCulture, ed. Bruce Drushel. Volume 60, issue 8. Summer 2013.
LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, University of Connecticut,2003-04.
Conference Presentations
“Hero Worship and Masculine Desire in Call Me By Your Name,” Popular Culture Association, Washington,DC. April 2019.
“Slut Shaming and Gay Cult: A Queer Studyof Dynasty,” Popular Culture Associationin the South, New Orleans, LA. October 2018.
“Slut Shaming and Gay Cult: A Queer Studyof Dynasty,” Popular Culture Association,Indianapolis, IN. March 2018.
“Friends, Virtual Reality, Gay InternetDating, and the Steadfast Increase of Queer Related Hate Crimes,” PopularCulture Association, San Diego, CA. April 2017.
“The Queer Edwardian Muse: Desire, Pan(ic)and Modern Camp in E.M. Forster, Downton Abbey, and Christopher Isherwood.” Popular Culture Association of the South,Popular Culture Association, Orleans,LA October 2014 and April 2015.
“The Post-Gendered Spaces of Vogue: MalcolmMcLaren, The Supermodels and Madonna.” PopularCulture Association, Chicago, IL. April 2014.
“Violence, Sexual Differentiation and thePost-Queer in The Hunger Games,” Popular Culture Association, Washington,DC. March 2013.
“Bad Boy Vamps, Bad Girl Gothic Superheroesand the new Gothic Gay Boy: The Sexual Agency of the Post-Modern Gothic in Interview with the Vampire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight and True Blood.” Popular Culture Association of the South,New Orleans, LA, Ocotber 2011; PopularCulture Association, Boston, MA, April 2012.
“Androgyny, Sexuality and the De-Politicization of Aesthetics:Duran Duran and the Second British Invasion,” Popular Culture Association, San Antonio Texas, April 2011.
“Thenot-so-straight/not-so-black Politics of Michael Jackson’s Dance,” Popular Culture Association, St. Louis,MO, April 2010. Chair and Panelist.
BuffyRoundtable Discussion 1: “Gender/Desire/Sexuality and Equations of Violence inBuffy the Vampire Slayer,” PopularCulture Association, New Orleans, LA, April 2009. Chair and DiscussionLeader.
“Nerd/Witch/Queer:Murderous Equations and Same-Sex Desire in Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Popular Culture Association, NewOrleans, LA, April 2009. Chair and Panelist.
“Pictures of You: Emo Gay Boys and theSubjectivity of Masculinity in Contemporary Gay Culture,” Popular Culture Association, San Francisco, CA, April 2008. Chair and Panelist.
“Re-Gendered Bodies and Gendered Spaces:Desire & Sexuality in Buffy theVampire Slayer,” Popular Culture Association, Boston, MA,April 2007. Chair and Panelist.
“Memory, Trauma, Displaced Oedipality: Jeweland Theories of Subverted Sexuality in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying,” 20th Century Literature &Culture Conference, Louisville, KY, February 2007. Panel Organizer, Chair,and Panelist.
“The Mirror and the Monster: PsychoanalyticReflections of Homosexual Desire in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room.” 20th Century Literature &Culture Conference, Louisville, KY, February 2006. Panel Organizer, Chair,and Panelist.
“Fragments & Dead Bodies: Mirrors,Reflections, & Desire in The Talented Mr. Ripley,” The School ofCriticism & Theory, Cornell University, Student Colloquia, June 2005.
“Fragments & Dead Bodies: Mirrors,Reflections, & Desire in The Talented Mr. Ripley, “Popular Culture Association, San Diego,CA, March 2005.
“Race, Desire, & Cannibalism: DangerousQueer Sexuality in Desire and the Black Masseur,” Tennessee WilliamsScholars’ Conference, New Orleans, LA, March 2003.
“The Politics of Gay Drag & LesbianSubtext in Wonder Woman,” Popular Culture Association of America,New Orleans, LA, March 2000.
“Dracula and Interview with theVampire: Triangular Desire, Homosexuality, and Pedophilia,” Dracula 97:A Centennial Celebration, Los Angeles, California, August 1997.
“Beyond (Psycho)analytic Sings: ErraticHomosexualities in Timothy Findley’s The Wars,” Canadian Landscape(s),McGill University, Montréal, Qc, March 1996.
“Dragging the Text: Lucy Honeychurch andthe Subversion of Sexuality in E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View,” TheLearned Societies of Canada Conference, UQAM, Montréal, Qc, June 1995.
“Leonardo Da Vinci, The Letter S, & GayMasquerade: Double-Reading E.M Forster’s A Room With A View,” LEXIS,Graduate Student Conference, McGill University, Montréal, Qc, February 1994.
“Dismantling the Frame: VictorianAestheticism and Gay Subculture,” La Ville en Rose, Concordia University &UQAM, Montréal, Qc, November 1992.
Guest Lecturers
February 2018: Robert Schwartzwald, Université de Montreal. Département de Litterature du Monde.Senior Seminar in Theory: Susan Sontag’s “Against Interpretation” and “TheAesthetics of Silence.”
January 2010: Nanette Norris, Royal Military College Saint-Jean. A Surveyof Gothic from the High Romantics to the Present.
1993-96: Nanette Norris, MarianopolisCollege, Various Subjects (Contemporary Poetry, D.H. Lawrence, The Gothic,1990s Youth Culture).