Nicholas A de Villiers

Areas of Expertise

Film Theory, Gender Studies, Philosophy, Queer Theory, Autobiography

Education

University of Minnesota 2004 PhD (Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society)

University of Minnesota 1999 MA (Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society)

Bard College 1997 BA (Literature, Gender Studies)

Simon’s Rock College of Bard 1995 AA

Biography

Affiliations

Modern Language Association, Society for Cinema and Media Studies
 

Grants and Contracts Awarded

UNF International Faculty Travel Grant (for travel to China, Summer 2011), 2010

Publications & Presentations

PUBLICATIONS

Books:

• Opacity and the Closet: Queer Tactics in Foucault, Barthes, and Warhol (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012) interrogates the viability of the metaphor of “the closet” when applied to three important queer figures in postwar American and French culture: the philosopher Michel Foucault, the literary critic Roland Barthes, and the Pop artist Andy Warhol.

Articles:

• "The Amicable Return of Roland Barthes." The University of Minnesota Press Blog (2012): n. pag. Web.<http://www.uminnpressblog.com/2012/07/the-amicable-return-of-roland-barthes.html>.
• “Metahorror: Sequels, ‘The Rules,’ and the Metareferential Turn in Contemporary Horror Cinema.” The Metareferential Turn: Forms, Functions, Attempts at Explanation. Ed. Werner Wolf. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2011. 357–77. Print.
• “Queer Memoir, Queer Space: Samuel R. Delany’s Times Square Red, Times Square Blue.” Transformations 21.2 (2011): 96–108. Print.
• “‘Chinese Cheers’: Hou Hsiao-hsien and Transnational Homage.” Senses of Cinema 58 (2011): n. pag. Web. <http://sensesofcinema.com/2011/feature-articles/“chinese-cheers”-hou-hsiao-hsien-and-transnational-homage/>.
• “Confessions of a Masked Philosopher: Anonymity and Identification in Foucault and Guibert.” Symploke 16.1–2 (2009): 75–91. Print.
• “Documentary and the Anamnesis of Queer Space: The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman.” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media 51 (2009): n. pag. Web. <www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/Polymath/index.html>.
• “Leaving the Cinema: Metacinematic Cruising in Tsai Ming-liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn.” Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media 50 (2008): n. pag. Web. <http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc50.2008/DragonInn/index.html>.
• “We Are the World Cinema: Chacun son cinéma.” Senses of Cinema 45 (2007): n. pag. Web. <http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2007/feature-articles/chacun-son-cinema/>.
• “Glancing, Cruising, Staring: Queer Ways of Looking.” Bright Lights Film Journal 57 (2007): n. pag. Web. <http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/57/57queer.php>.
• “How Much Does it Cost for Cinema to Tell the Truth of Sex? Cinéma vérité and sexography.” Sexualities 10.3 (2007): 341–61. Print.
• “‘The vanguard—and the most articulate audience’: Queer Camp, Jack Smith and John Waters” (Guest article). Forum 4 (2007): n. pag. Web. <http://www.forumjournal.org/site/issue/04/nicholas-de-villiers>.
• “Unseen Warhol/Seeing Barthes.” Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory 28.3 (2005): 21–35. Print.
• “The Retrospective Closet-effect: Jean Cocteau and Roland Barthes.” French Studies Bulletin (FSB) 1.93 (2004): 14–20. Print.
• “The Reception of Roland Barthes: The Question of the Closet.” FSB 1.92 (2004): 17–21. Print.

Reviews:

• Review of David M. Halperin’s What Do Gay Men Want? An Essay on Sex, Risk, and Subjectivity. Sexualities 13.1 (2010): 126–27. Print.
• “Queer Archives.” Rev. of Judith Halberstam’s In a Queer Time & Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. Cultural Critique 66 (2007): 179–83. Print.
• “A Great ‘Pedagogy’ of Nuance: Roland Barthes’s The Neutral.” Theory & Event 8.4 (2005): n. pag. Web. <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theory_and_event/v008/8.4devilliers.html>.

PRESENTATIONS

• “Ethnographic Documentary and the Cultural Study of Sex Work,” Imagining Culture(s), Rethinking Disciplines. University of Miami, April 1–2, 2011. 
• “Embody Your Oeuvre: Intellectual Profiles and the Philosophical Documentary,” Film and Philosophy: How Films Think, University of Florida, November 5–7, 2010. 
• “‘Chinese Cheers’: Hou Hsiao-hsien and Transnational Homage,” Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities, Osaka, Japan, June 18–21, 2010.
• “Metahorror: Sequels, ‘The Rules,’ and the Metareferential Turn in Contemporary Horror Cinema,” The Metareferential Turn in Contemporary Arts and Media, University of Graz, Austria, October 1–3, 2009.
• “Anno’s Camera-Eye: Sexuality, Youth, and Inoculation,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies international conference, Josai International University, Tokyo, Japan, May 23, 2009.
• “Incorporating the Medical Gaze in Queer and Transgender Life Writing and Video,” Performance Studies international conference Interregnum: In Between States, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, August 20–24, 2008. 
• “Incorporating the Medical Gaze in Queer Life Writing and Video,” Battleground States conference “The Body & Culture,” Bowling Green State University, February 22–23, 2008.
• “From the Body-as-fetish to the Lovable Body,” 2nd Pictoplasma conference on contemporary character design and art, Berlin, Germany, October 11–14, 2006.
• “Andy Warhol Up-Tight,” Technologies of Memory in the Arts international conference, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, May 19–20, 2006.
• “The End of the Family Line: Filiation, Affiliation, Betrayal,” Making Friendship: Bonds, Boundaries, Becomings conference, New York University, April 6–8, 2006.
• “Looking Queer: Glancing, Cruising, Staring,” Los Angeles Queer Studies conference, UCLA/USC, ONE Archives, Los Angeles, CA, November 18–19, 2005.
• “Unseen Warhol/Seeing Barthes: ‘gay’ writing and photography,” Society for French Studies 46th annual conference, University of Leeds, UK, July 4–6, 2005.
• “Leaving the Celluloid Closet,” “The Cultural Studies Closet” panel, Northeast Modern Language Association convention, Cambridge, MA, March 31–April 2, 2005.
• “How Much Does it Cost for Cinema to Tell the Truth of Sex?” Capturing the Truth? Changing Strategies in Documentary Cinema, Humboldt University Berlin, February 8–11, 2005.
• “The Inscription of Michel Foucault,” Life Writing panel “Why Ethics? Why Now?” MLA 2004 convention, Philadelphia, PA, December 27–30, 2004.