sx salon 18

In Spring 2014, the “Gender and the Caribbean Body” reading group in New York City organized a public event at the City College of New York to discuss the intersections between gender, corporeality, and “what it means to be a Caribbean artist operating identity at home and within the cultural centers of the ‘global north.’” The presenting artists for the event were writer Kettly Mars, visual and performing artist Nicolás Dumit Estévez, and photographer Gerard H. Gaskin. Our special section in this issue of sx salon captures some of the spirit of this event and the reading group behind it with articles inspired by this exploration of diaspora and gender, including engaging interviews with Mars, Estévez, and Gaskin. The “Gender and the Caribbean Body” special section opens with discussion articles on gender and sexuality from three of the reading group members: Christopher Ian Foster reads literary instances of the queered immigrant body, Sophie Ellman-Golan explores the invisibility of male sex workers in Haiti, and Grace Aneiza Ali contemplates the gender-blending photographs of Keisha Scarville. Together these six pieces capture some of the breadth and complexities of the works produced by the “Gender and the Caribbean Body” reading group.

This issue also features reviews of Nalo Hopkinson’s Sister Mine by fellow fantasy writer Tananarive Due and Bernardine Evaristo’s audacious Mr. Loverman by Kela Nnarka Francis. We also carry reviews of monographs by Antonio López and Christina Kullberg. Rounding out this first issue of 2015 are prose fiction pieces by AJ Sidransky and Cynthia James, alongside poetry from Jason Allen and Sophie Maríñez.

We hope you enjoy reading the thought-provoking pieces in this issue of sx salon.

Kelly Baker Josephs

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Table of Contents

Introduction and Table of Contents—Kelly Baker Josephs

Reviews
Sister Mine, by Nalo Hopkinson—Tananarive Due
Unbecoming Blackness: The Diaspora Cultures of Afro-Cuban America, by Antonio López—Daniel Arbino 
Mr. Loverman, by Bernardine Evaristo— Kela Nnarka Francis
The Poetics of Ethnography in Martinican Narratives: Exploring the Self and the Environment, by Christina Kullberg—Rachel L. Mordecai 

Discussion: Gender and the Caribbean Body
Beautiful Ambiguities: The Photography of Keisha Scarville—Grace Aneiza Ali
Constructions of the Caribbean: The Invisibility of MSM Sex Workers in Haiti—Sophie Ellman-Golan
Toward a Caribbean Migritude?: Immigration, Sexuality, and the Gendered Caribbean Body—Christopher Ian Foster
“My Caribeñidad”: A Conversation with Nicolás Dumit Estévez—Maja Horn
“A Safe Place”: A Conversation with Kettly Mars—Alessandra Benedicty
Capturing Beauty with a Caribbean Lens: A Conversation with Gerard Gaskin—Kelly Baker Josephs

Poetry
Sophie Maríñez
Jason Allen

Prose
AJ Sidransky
Cynthia James