<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><div class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:15px;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(32,31,30)">Dear colleagues, please join us on July 30 for the launch of Robert Phillips' new book <i>Virtual Activism: Sexuality, the Internet, and a Social Movement in Singapore </i>(Toronto UP, 2020). Registered attendees will receive 40% off the paperback price of £20.99. See below and website (<a href="https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/jmrn/book-launch-virtual-activism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline">https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/jmrn/book-launch-virtual-activism/</a>) for details. Please share widely!</div><div class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:15px;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(32,31,30)"><br></div><div class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:15px;line-height:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(32,31,30)"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;text-align:center;color:rgb(107,107,107);font-family:Georgia"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box"><em style="box-sizing:border-box">Virtual Activism: Sexuality, the Internet, and a Social Movement in Singapore </em></span><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box">by Robert Phillips</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;text-align:center;color:rgb(107,107,107);font-family:Georgia"><em style="box-sizing:border-box"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box">In Conversation with </span><a href="http://adibharat.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(30,115,190);box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box">Adi Saleem Bharat</span></a></em></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;text-align:center;color:rgb(107,107,107);font-family:Georgia"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box">July 30, 2020</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;text-align:center;color:rgb(107,107,107);font-family:Georgia"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box">9am (Eastern Time), 2pm (UK), 9pm (Singapore)</span></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;text-align:center;color:rgb(107,107,107);font-family:Georgia"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box">Register here <u style="box-sizing:border-box">before July 29, 5pm (UK</u>) in order to receive the Zoom link and password: </span><a href="https://forms.gle/7Mb1taD22tg73oCC8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(30,115,190);box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box">https://forms.gle/7Mb1taD22tg73oCC8</span></a></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(107,107,107);font-family:Georgia;text-align:center"><em style="box-sizing:border-box"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box">* Registered attendees will receive a discount code for 40% off the paperback price of £20.99*</span></em></p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(107,107,107);font-family:Georgia">In <em style="box-sizing:border-box">Virtual Activism: Sexuality, the Internet, and a Social Movement in Singapore</em> (Toronto UP, 2020), cultural anthropologist Robert Phillips provides a detailed, yet accessible, ethnographic case study that looks at the changes in LGBT activism in Singapore in the period 1993-2019. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted with activist organizations and individuals, Phillips illustrates key theoretical ideas—including illiberal pragmatics and neoliberal homonormativity—that, in combination with the introduction of the Internet, have shaped the manner by which LGBT Singaporeans are framing and subsequently claiming rights. Phillips argues that the activism engaged in by LGBT Singaporeans for governmental and societal recognition is in many respects virtual. His analysis documents how the actions of activists have resulted in some noteworthy changes in the lives of LGBT Singaporeans, but nothing as grand as some would have hoped, thus indexing the “not quite” aspect of the virtual. Yet, <em style="box-sizing:border-box">Virtual Activism</em> also demonstrates how these actions have encouraged LGBT Singaporeans to fight even harder for their rights, signalling the “possibilities” that the virtual holds.</p><div style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:Georgia;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(107,107,107);box-sizing:border-box"><span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:700;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;box-sizing:border-box"><a href="https://www.bsu.edu/academics/collegesanddepartments/anthropology/about/faculty-staff/faculty/phillipsrobert" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(30,115,190);box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;text-decoration-line:none">Robert Phillips</a></span> is an assistant professor of anthropology at Ball State University. He lectures on ethnographic methods and the anthropology of technology and religion. His early fieldwork was in south India, but most of his empirical research was conducted in Singapore, focusing on how interactions on the Internet affect national and sexual subjectivity. More recently, Phillips has been conducting research in Brooklyn, NY and Jerusalem, Israel, focusing on religious subjectivity among Orthodox Jewish men.</div></div></div></div>