A love letter to queer of color theory and how it has helped the author to discover himself, reclaim identities, celebrate queer joy, and work towards liberation
Marcos Gonsalez found his greatest source of joy when he encountered queer theory in college. As they put it, “queers and college go together like peanut butter and jelly,” and for them, this was especially true. Seeing himself reflected in the work José Esteban Muñoz was life-changing: Muñoz’s theory of disidentification empowered Gonsalez to reclaim their Latinx and queer identities—and inspired him to push back against the largely-white monolith of queer theory.
In the sophisticated yet intimately disarming prose of In Theory, Darling, Gonsalez takes his copy of Disidentifications to the gay bar, to the classroom, to their childhome and beyond, inviting us to go along with him as he limns the queerness of reality TV, mourns the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre, searches for their uncle in Paris Is Burning, looks for Muñoz’s legacy in the streets of New York, and situates themself in the lineage of the queer elders who have come before him.
Conversational yet deeply analytical, intimate yet wide-ranging, youthful yet sophisticated, Gonsalez’s essays crackle with intellectual energy—and remind us just how life-giving theory can be.
“When my deeply beloved friend and colleague José Muñoz died suddenly in 2013 at the age of forty-six, he really had no idea how widely and deeply he was loved by his readers. This collection of overlapping essays by Marcos Gonsalez shows us what made Muñoz such a significant figure for so many. Interweaving autobiography with Muñoz’s influence, In Theory, Darling is both personal, intellectual, and deeply affecting. The reader comes to understand the meaning and impact of an education in theory for the everyday lives of queers of color, as well as for every other reader lucky enough to encounter Muñoz’s legacy.”
—Lisa Duggan, author of The Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy
“Loving a theorist often means loving their words and attending less to that author’s living. But in Marcos Gonsalez’s In Theory, Darling, a different more expansive love is enacted, queerly syncing up with theory’s own movement. That is, if one etymological definition of theory is speculation, this book finds the theorist the late José Esteban Muñoz somewhere between his still-spoken words and the felt path of his/our arrival to them. For Gonsalez, Muñoz’s words magically generate an atmosphere where queers of color live forever. Nobody dies; people live alongside their words. Everyone stays dancing and writing and watching TV and loving. And if we’re asking the heart if that’s real and true . . . In Theory, Darling, says yes.”
—Sarah Jane Cervenak, professor and author of Black Gathering: Art, Ecology, Ungiven Life
“With In Theory, Darling, Marcos Gonsalez gives us a beautiful, impassioned, and deeply personal argument for the power of queer color theory to transform our lives and our world. And if you don’t know what queer theory is? This is the perfect introduction. With clear and inviting prose, Gonsalez helps us learn from the elders, even as we forge our own paths through what remains a difficult world. In the process, we learn that queer of color theory is part of how we imagine and create something better for ourselves and the generations to come.”
—Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, author of The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
Introduction:
Student, PhD, Professor, Theorist, Stranger
I: The Theory of Falling in Love with Theory
II: He Had to Have . . .
III: In the Office with You
IV: Suit Jacket Informalities
V: Turn the Pulse Around
VI: Saint Muñoz
Coda: Tío José
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index