The Sexual Demon of Colonial Power is a political, cultural, and intellectual study of race, sex, and Western empire. Greg Thomas interrogates a system that represents race, gender, sexuality, and class in certain systematic and oppressive ways. By connecting sex and eroticism to geopolitics both politically and epistemologically, he examines the logic, operations, and politics of sexuality in the West. The book focuses on the centrality of race, class, and empire to Western realities of "gender and sexuality" and to problematic Western attempts to theorize gender and sexuality (or embodiment). Addressing a wide range of intellectual disciplines, it holds out the hope for an analysis freed from the domination of white, Western terms of reference.

A book that rigorously interrogates the language of body politics in the context of neo-colonialist domination

About the Author

Greg Thomas is Assistant Professor of English at Syracuse University and editor of Proud Flesh: New Afrikan Journal of Culture, Politics, & Consciousness.

Reviews

"Thomas offers here one of the most provocative and consequential analyses of empire and sexual politics in recent years. His work provides new ways of conceptualizing sexuality, race, and empire which makes the case for rethinking all of the ways in which these fields are studied. His erudition is vast and the acuity of his analysis, unparalleled." -Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor, University of California, Berkeley

"This book is an amazing intervention into a range of related contemporary discourses as it provides important and informed critiques of imperialism. As we witness new formations of empire and sexuality via incidents like Abu Ghraib, it is important to recall these old manifestations of imperialism. This is perhaps the only text now that one can read about pan-Africanist projects and the particular conjunctions of sexuality and colonialism. Greg Thomas, a leading member of a new generation of scholars, advances well the activist intellectual work of the best in the black radical intellectual tradition. This is a scholar whose stunning intellectual energy already challenges, troubles, bothers entrenched, fixed positions as it clearly stimulates new discussions and reverberates in a range of related fields. -Carole Boyce Davies, Professor of Africa" -New World Studies and English, Florida International University

"I found this book to be not only a stimulating and thought-provoking read, but
also one that was impressive for how accessible Thomas made such a thoroughgoing analysis of a broad range of fields. This review can only hint at the richness of the text and the powerful nature of the argumentation. Thomas must be commended for his ability to so clearly capture such an in-depth critique in ways that are always already reconstructive at the same time as they are deconstructive." -Body & Society

Book Information
ISBN 9780253218940
Author Greg Thomas
Format Paperback
Page Count 244
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press