David A. B. Murray
Department of Anthropology
School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies
Professor
Office: 312 Founders
Phone: (416)736-2100 Ext: 40481
Email: damurray@yorku.ca
Drawing on theoretical interests in culture, nationalism, colonialism, representation, performance and queer theory, Professor Murray has conducted fieldwork in the Martinique, Barbados, New Zealand and Canada examining sexual and gender minorities and their relations to local, national and transnational social, political, economic and health inequities.
Professor Murray's monographs include "Opacity: Gender, Sexuality, Race and the Problem of Identity in Martinique" (Peter Lang 2002), "Flaming Souls: Homosexuality, Homophobia and Social Change in Barbados", (University of Toronto Press, 2012) and "Real Queer? Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Refugees in the Canadian Refugee Apparatus" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015). He has edited several volumes including "Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space" (Duke University Press, 2009), and "Living with HIV in 'Post-Crisis' Times: Beyond the Endgame" (Lexington Books, 2021).
His most recent publication is the introductory textbook "Queer Anthropology" (2025) part of University of Toronto Press's Anthropological Insights Series.
Degrees
Ph.D. Anthropology, University of VirginiaM.A. (Distinction) Anthropology, University of Virginia
B.A. (Honours) Anthropology, McGill University
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesResearch Interests
2016 Real Queer? Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Refugees in the Canadian Refugee Apparatus. Rowman and Littlefield International. Winner of the 2016 Ruth Benedict Prize for Outstanding Monograph, American Anthropological Association.
2016 Queering Borders: Language, Sexuality and Migration (editor). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
2012 Flaming Souls: Homosexuality, Homophobia and Social Change in Barbados. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2009 Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space. Duke University Press (Editor). Winner of the 2010 Ruth Benedict Prize for Best Edited Volume, American Anthropological Association.
2002 Opacity: Gender, Sexuality, Race and the ‘Problem’ of Identity in Martinique New York: Peter Lang
2021 "Caribbean Sexualities and Ethnographic Research Methods", in Methodologies in Caribbean Research on Gender and Sexuality. Kamala Kempadoo and Halimah A.F. DeShong, eds. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.
2009 “Homo hauntings: Spectral Sexuality and the Good Citizen in Barbadian Media” in Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space. Duke University Press.
2009 “Homosexuality, Society and the State: An Ethnography of Sublime Resistance in Martinique” in Perspectives on the Caribbean: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation. Philip Sher, editor. Blackwell Publishing (Revised version of article originally published in 1996 in Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 2(3):249-272).
2009 "Positively Limited: Gender, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS Discourses in Barbados” in From Risk to Management: HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, Christine Barrow and Robert Carr, editors. Ian Randle Publishers.
2009 “Introduction” and “Epilogue” in Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space. Duke University Press
2004 “Takatapui, Gay or just Ho-mo-sexual, Darling? Maori Language, Sexual Terminology and Identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand” in Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language, William O. Leap and Tom Boellstorff, eds. Urbana. University of Illinois Press. Pp. 163-180
2013 Tacit Subjects: Belonging and Same Sex Desire Among Dominican Immigrant Men (Carlos U. Decena) in GLQ 19(1):131-133
2010 Native Men Remade: Gender and Nation in Contemporary Hawaii (Ty P. Kawika Tengan) in American Ethnologist 37:4
2008 Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality and AIDS in the Dominican Republic (Mark Padilla) in Anthropologica 50(2):434-436
2007 Theatre and Political Process: Staging Identities in Tokelau and New Zealand (Ingjerd Hoem) in Ethnos 72(1):136-137
2005 Queer Globalizations: Citizenship and the Afterlife of Colonialism (Cruz-Malave and Manalansan, eds) in The Journal of Homosexuality 49(2):169-172
2005 The Culture of Gender and Sexuality in the Caribbean (Linden Lewis, ed.) in The New West Indian Guide 79(1&2):27-29
2003 The Anthropology of Media (K. Askew and R. Wilk, eds.) in The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 40(2):238-240
1999 American Gay (S.O. Murray) in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5 (2):293-294
1998 A Day For the Hunter, A Day for the Prey, Popular Music and Power in Haiti (Gage Averill) in The Australian Journal of Anthropology 9 (3):327-328
1998 Condor Qatay: Anthropology in Performance (Catherine J. Allen and Nathan Garner) in American Anthropologist 100 (1):34-35
1998 Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body (Rosemarie Garland Thomson ed.) in American Ethnologist 25 (1):20-21
2022 "Anachronic: Viral Socialities and Project Time among HIV Support Groups in Barbados". Medical Anthropology Quarterly. Online Version
2021. Redemption songs: women, religion, and the moral politics of HIV in Barbados. Culture and Religion. DOI: 10.1080/14755610.2021.1903956
2021. Opting Out: Aging Gays, HIV/AIDS and the Bio-Politics of Queer Viral Time. Journal of Homosexuality. DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2021.1901503
2020 We Are (A Measurable) Family: Affect and Audit in a Toronto HIV/AIDS Service Organization. Anthropologica 62(1):163–175.
2020 Pozitively Me: HIV Support Groups, Culture and Individualism in Toronto. Medical Anthropology. 39(8):689-703
2020 Liberation Nation? Queer Refugees, Homonationalism and the Canadian Necropolitical State. REMHU - Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana v. 28, n. 59.
2018 Learning to be LGBT: Sexual Orientation Refugees and Linguistic Inequality. Critical Multilingualism Studies 6.1 (2018): pp. 2325-2871
2016 Queer Forms: Producing Documentation in Sexual Orientation Refugee Cases. Anthropological Quarterly 89(2):465–484
2014 Guest Editor, “Queering Borders: Language, Sexuality, and Migration. Special Issue, Journal of Language and Sexuality 3(1). “Preface” and “To Feel the Truth: Discourse and Emotion in Canadian Sexual Orientation Refugee Hearings”. Journal of Language and Sexuality 3(1):1-5, 6-27
2014 The (not so) straight story: Queering migration narratives of sexual orientation and gendered identity refugee claimants. Sexualities 17(4), 451-471
2014 The Challenge of Home for Sexual Orientation and Gendered Identity Refugees in Toronto. Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'études canadiennes 48 (1), 132-152
2014 Real Queer:" Authentic" LGBT Refugee Claimants and Homonationalism in the Canadian Refugee System. Anthropologica 56 (1), 21-32
2011 "Becoming Queer Here: Integration and Adaptation Experiences of Sexual Minority Refugees in Toronto". Refuge 28(2):127-135 http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/refuge/article/view/36504
2010 “Digisex: Cell-phones, Barbadian Queens and Circuits of Desire in the Gay Caribbean” Anthropologica 52(1):103-112
2009 “Bajan Queens, Nebulous Dreams: Sexual Diversity in Barbados” to Caribbean Review of Gender Studies. Issue #3 (http://sta.uwi.edu/crgs/)
2007 “The Civilized Homosexual: Travel Talk and The Project of Gay Identity”. Sexualities 10(1): 49-60
2006 “East Indies/West Indies: Introduction” (co-written with Tom Boellstorf and Kathryn Robinson) Anthropological Forum 16(3):219-227
2006 “Whose Right? Human Rights, Sexuality and Social Change in Barbados” Journal of Culture, Health and Sexuality 8(3):267-281
2003 “Who is Takatapui? Maori Language, Sexuality and Identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand." Anthropologica, 45:233-244
2002 “Introduction” (co-written with Joel Robbins) and “Queering the Culture Cult” in Social Analysis 46(1):1-3, 80-89.
2000 “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Power and Powerlessness of Transnational Narratives among Gay Martinican Men” in American Anthropologist 102(2):261-270
2000 “Remapping Carnival: Gender, Sexuality and Power in a Martinican Festival” in Social Analysis 44 (1):103-112
2000 Travesti: Sex, Gender and Culture amongst Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes (Don Kulick) in The Australian Journal of Anthropology 11(1):116-117
2000 “Introduction” (co-written with Fiona Magowan and Rosita Henry) and “Haka Fracas? The Dialectics of Identity in Discussions of a Contemporary Maori Dance” in The Australian Journal of Anthropology 11(3):14-26
1999 “Cultural Scripts of Language and Sexuality in Martinican Theater: The Improvisational Impasse” in Cultural Anthropology 14(1):88-110
1999 “Laws of Desire? Hegemonic Masculinity in Homosexual and Heterosexual Male Martinican Sexual Narratives” in American Ethnologist 26(1):160-172
1998 “Making Haitian Peasants: The Work of Authenticity in Martinican Theatre” in The Australian Journal of Anthropology 9(2):179-193
1998 “Undressing Crossdressing in Martinique’s Carnival” in Sexualities 1(3):343-354
2009 “Masculinity: Rethinking the ‘Crisis’”. Antigua Sun, May 15, 2009 (http://www.antiguasunonline.com/) and Stabroek News (Guyana), May 19, 2009 (http://www.stabroeknews.com)
Drawing on theoretical interests in culture, nationalism, colonialism, representation, performance and queer theory, Professor Murray has conducted fieldwork in the Martinique, Barbados, New Zealand and Canada examining sexual and gender minorities and their relations to local, national and transnational social, political, economic and health inequities.
Professor Murray's monographs include "Opacity: Gender, Sexuality, Race and the Problem of Identity in Martinique" (Peter Lang 2002), "Flaming Souls: Homosexuality, Homophobia and Social Change in Barbados", (University of Toronto Press, 2012) and "Real Queer? Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Refugees in the Canadian Refugee Apparatus" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015). He has edited several volumes including "Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space" (Duke University Press, 2009), and "Living with HIV in 'Post-Crisis' Times: Beyond the Endgame" (Lexington Books, 2021).
His most recent publication is the introductory textbook "Queer Anthropology" (2025) part of University of Toronto Press's Anthropological Insights Series.
Degrees
Ph.D. Anthropology, University of VirginiaM.A. (Distinction) Anthropology, University of Virginia
B.A. (Honours) Anthropology, McGill University
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesResearch Interests
All Publications
2021 "Caribbean Sexualities and Ethnographic Research Methods", in Methodologies in Caribbean Research on Gender and Sexuality. Kamala Kempadoo and Halimah A.F. DeShong, eds. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers.
2009 “Homo hauntings: Spectral Sexuality and the Good Citizen in Barbadian Media” in Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space. Duke University Press.
2009 “Homosexuality, Society and the State: An Ethnography of Sublime Resistance in Martinique” in Perspectives on the Caribbean: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation. Philip Sher, editor. Blackwell Publishing (Revised version of article originally published in 1996 in Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 2(3):249-272).
2009 "Positively Limited: Gender, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS Discourses in Barbados” in From Risk to Management: HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, Christine Barrow and Robert Carr, editors. Ian Randle Publishers.
2009 “Introduction” and “Epilogue” in Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space. Duke University Press
2004 “Takatapui, Gay or just Ho-mo-sexual, Darling? Maori Language, Sexual Terminology and Identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand” in Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language, William O. Leap and Tom Boellstorff, eds. Urbana. University of Illinois Press. Pp. 163-180
2013 Tacit Subjects: Belonging and Same Sex Desire Among Dominican Immigrant Men (Carlos U. Decena) in GLQ 19(1):131-133
2010 Native Men Remade: Gender and Nation in Contemporary Hawaii (Ty P. Kawika Tengan) in American Ethnologist 37:4
2008 Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality and AIDS in the Dominican Republic (Mark Padilla) in Anthropologica 50(2):434-436
2007 Theatre and Political Process: Staging Identities in Tokelau and New Zealand (Ingjerd Hoem) in Ethnos 72(1):136-137
2005 Queer Globalizations: Citizenship and the Afterlife of Colonialism (Cruz-Malave and Manalansan, eds) in The Journal of Homosexuality 49(2):169-172
2005 The Culture of Gender and Sexuality in the Caribbean (Linden Lewis, ed.) in The New West Indian Guide 79(1&2):27-29
2003 The Anthropology of Media (K. Askew and R. Wilk, eds.) in The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 40(2):238-240
1999 American Gay (S.O. Murray) in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5 (2):293-294
1998 A Day For the Hunter, A Day for the Prey, Popular Music and Power in Haiti (Gage Averill) in The Australian Journal of Anthropology 9 (3):327-328
1998 Condor Qatay: Anthropology in Performance (Catherine J. Allen and Nathan Garner) in American Anthropologist 100 (1):34-35
1998 Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body (Rosemarie Garland Thomson ed.) in American Ethnologist 25 (1):20-21
2016 Real Queer? Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Refugees in the Canadian Refugee Apparatus. Rowman and Littlefield International. Winner of the 2016 Ruth Benedict Prize for Outstanding Monograph, American Anthropological Association.
2016 Queering Borders: Language, Sexuality and Migration (editor). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
2012 Flaming Souls: Homosexuality, Homophobia and Social Change in Barbados. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2009 Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space. Duke University Press (Editor). Winner of the 2010 Ruth Benedict Prize for Best Edited Volume, American Anthropological Association.
2002 Opacity: Gender, Sexuality, Race and the ‘Problem’ of Identity in Martinique New York: Peter Lang
2022 "Anachronic: Viral Socialities and Project Time among HIV Support Groups in Barbados". Medical Anthropology Quarterly. Online Version
2021. Redemption songs: women, religion, and the moral politics of HIV in Barbados. Culture and Religion. DOI: 10.1080/14755610.2021.1903956
2021. Opting Out: Aging Gays, HIV/AIDS and the Bio-Politics of Queer Viral Time. Journal of Homosexuality. DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2021.1901503
2020 We Are (A Measurable) Family: Affect and Audit in a Toronto HIV/AIDS Service Organization. Anthropologica 62(1):163–175.
2020 Pozitively Me: HIV Support Groups, Culture and Individualism in Toronto. Medical Anthropology. 39(8):689-703
2020 Liberation Nation? Queer Refugees, Homonationalism and the Canadian Necropolitical State. REMHU - Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana v. 28, n. 59.
2018 Learning to be LGBT: Sexual Orientation Refugees and Linguistic Inequality. Critical Multilingualism Studies 6.1 (2018): pp. 2325-2871
2016 Queer Forms: Producing Documentation in Sexual Orientation Refugee Cases. Anthropological Quarterly 89(2):465–484
2014 Guest Editor, “Queering Borders: Language, Sexuality, and Migration. Special Issue, Journal of Language and Sexuality 3(1). “Preface” and “To Feel the Truth: Discourse and Emotion in Canadian Sexual Orientation Refugee Hearings”. Journal of Language and Sexuality 3(1):1-5, 6-27
2014 The (not so) straight story: Queering migration narratives of sexual orientation and gendered identity refugee claimants. Sexualities 17(4), 451-471
2014 The Challenge of Home for Sexual Orientation and Gendered Identity Refugees in Toronto. Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'études canadiennes 48 (1), 132-152
2014 Real Queer:" Authentic" LGBT Refugee Claimants and Homonationalism in the Canadian Refugee System. Anthropologica 56 (1), 21-32
2011 "Becoming Queer Here: Integration and Adaptation Experiences of Sexual Minority Refugees in Toronto". Refuge 28(2):127-135 http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/refuge/article/view/36504
2010 “Digisex: Cell-phones, Barbadian Queens and Circuits of Desire in the Gay Caribbean” Anthropologica 52(1):103-112
2009 “Bajan Queens, Nebulous Dreams: Sexual Diversity in Barbados” to Caribbean Review of Gender Studies. Issue #3 (http://sta.uwi.edu/crgs/)
2007 “The Civilized Homosexual: Travel Talk and The Project of Gay Identity”. Sexualities 10(1): 49-60
2006 “East Indies/West Indies: Introduction” (co-written with Tom Boellstorf and Kathryn Robinson) Anthropological Forum 16(3):219-227
2006 “Whose Right? Human Rights, Sexuality and Social Change in Barbados” Journal of Culture, Health and Sexuality 8(3):267-281
2003 “Who is Takatapui? Maori Language, Sexuality and Identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand." Anthropologica, 45:233-244
2002 “Introduction” (co-written with Joel Robbins) and “Queering the Culture Cult” in Social Analysis 46(1):1-3, 80-89.
2000 “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Power and Powerlessness of Transnational Narratives among Gay Martinican Men” in American Anthropologist 102(2):261-270
2000 “Remapping Carnival: Gender, Sexuality and Power in a Martinican Festival” in Social Analysis 44 (1):103-112
2000 Travesti: Sex, Gender and Culture amongst Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes (Don Kulick) in The Australian Journal of Anthropology 11(1):116-117
2000 “Introduction” (co-written with Fiona Magowan and Rosita Henry) and “Haka Fracas? The Dialectics of Identity in Discussions of a Contemporary Maori Dance” in The Australian Journal of Anthropology 11(3):14-26
1999 “Cultural Scripts of Language and Sexuality in Martinican Theater: The Improvisational Impasse” in Cultural Anthropology 14(1):88-110
1999 “Laws of Desire? Hegemonic Masculinity in Homosexual and Heterosexual Male Martinican Sexual Narratives” in American Ethnologist 26(1):160-172
1998 “Making Haitian Peasants: The Work of Authenticity in Martinican Theatre” in The Australian Journal of Anthropology 9(2):179-193
1998 “Undressing Crossdressing in Martinique’s Carnival” in Sexualities 1(3):343-354
2009 “Masculinity: Rethinking the ‘Crisis’”. Antigua Sun, May 15, 2009 (http://www.antiguasunonline.com/) and Stabroek News (Guyana), May 19, 2009 (http://www.stabroeknews.com)
