Sexual spaces: Narratives of United States sexualities in the era of transnationalism

My dissertation argues that sexuality is one of the key sites for both consolidating and contesting U.S. national identity in the era of postmodernity. As postmodern political and economic conditions---the rapid expansion of transnational capital, the declining importance of the U.S. in the world market, and the de-nationalizing of corporations previously based in the U.S.---destabilize the U.S. nation-state, theoretical attempts to grapple with the effects of increasingly permeable national boundaries often ignore the role of sexuality. My work brings together queer theory, feminist theory, cultural studies and transnational studies to create a framework for theorizing current constructions of sexuality and postmodernity.;I begin by situating my work within the larger fields of transnational studies and studies of gender and sexuality. Chapter One examines the problems and productive possibilities of bringing together queer theories in the U.S. with studies of transnationality. I argue in Chapter Two that fetishism provides the best theoretical tool for a material analysis of sexuality in the contemporary U.S. because of its origin as a mechanism for cross-cultural exchange. In my third chapter, I consider how dominant national cultural narratives, generally produced by and about white men, attempt to resecure and recenter the position of white U.S. masculinity, as well as the position of the U.S., in a global framework. Chapter Four focuses on alternative national narratives that respond to unraveling national boundaries by attempting to reconfigure the focal point of U.S. national identity as Other than white, male and heterosexual.;Through a consideration of how corporate discourse on diversity management gets utilized to construct the new class of U.S. corporate elite, my conclusion suggests that shifting the focal point of U.S. national identity from white males to Other subjects does not necessarily challenge the fetishization of individual subjectivity. I conclude that exploring various responses to the destabilization of the U.S. nation-state is crucial for understanding current constructions of both sexuality and postmodernity and for theorizing possible resistance to the demands of transnational capitalism.