José Muñoz Papers
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Abstract
José Muñoz (1967-2013) was a writer, scholar, and professor focused on performance studies, visual culture, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical theory. The José Muñoz Papers contain digital and paper files, and audiovisual material related to Muñoz's life and career as professor and chair of the Department of Performance Studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts during the 2000s-2010s. This collection contains NYU course-related files; resumes and biographical sketches; writing drafts and published articles; research/source files and recordings; conference and lecture panel planning material; photographs; college ephemera; and correspondence.
Biographical Note
José Esteban Muñoz (1967-2013) was a Cuban American academic in the fields of performance studies, visual culture, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical theory. He received both his undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College (1989) and his doctorate from Duke University (1994) in comparative literature.
Muñoz was a professor and chair of the Department of Performance Studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and wrote extensively on visual art and aesthetics. He was also the editor of the journals Social Text and Women and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory.
Muñoz's writing focused on the role of race within gay and lesbian studies as expressed in his first book Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics (1999). A decade later, his second book Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity (2009) was published.
Arrangement
Organized in two series:
Series I. Professional
Series II. Personal
The files within each series are arranged chronologically, with materials grouped by subject and arranged chronologically within.
Scope and Contents
The José Muñoz Papers (1970s-2014) contain materials related to the personal life and career of José Esteban Muñoz, a scholar and writer in the field of queer politics and aesthetics, as well as a professor and chair for the Department of Performance Studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. The collection contains digital and paper files documenting performance studies and queer theory as academic disciplines through Muñoz's NYU course material dating from the 2000s to mid-2010s. This collection not only illustrates relevant topics taught at a university during the 2000s, but also the scholarly works produced during this time through his drafts, proofs, and published articles. His writings discuss topics including queer performance artists of color and the role their art plays within their lives and community. Related academic conference and lecture programs and scripts are also in this collection. A large number of personal photographs within this collection, the majority of which are digital, illustrate the life of a young academic and professor living and working in New York. Photographic subjects include travel, friends, his dogs, arts events, parties, and selfies and portraits of Muñoz, taken during the late 1990s-2010s. Ephemera from his studies at Duke University in the 1990s include class papers and assigned readings, as well as event posters and fliers from film and performance events he was involved with as a student.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; José Muñoz Papers; MSS 429; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated in 2015 by Antonio and Elena Muñoz, followed by an accretion in October 2016 by NYU professor Ann Pellegrini. The accession numbers associated with this donation are 2015.429 and 2016.050.
Custodial History
The 2016 accretion materials were packed and removed from professor Ann Pellegrini's office.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Fales Library and Special Collections, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures.
An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Appraisal
The following were removed from the collection: 40 VHS, 6 DVDs, 2 audiocassettes, and 3 CDs (commercial, blank, damaged, or duplicate); 79 phonographic discs; Urkel doll; Keanu Reeves Matrix Action Figure; Polaroid camera; Political Asylum Game; ceramic Cuban flag artwork; 5 movie and exhibition posters; 3 college yearbooks, and 6 cartons of books and magazines. 130 born-digital carriers were also removed from the collection found to be blank, commercial, or damaged.
About this Guide
Processing Information
In November 2016, some of the materials were rehoused in acid-free folders and reboxed into record cartons. Rolled items were condensed and rehoused.
In 2023-2024, paper material was placed in acid-free folders and manuscript boxes. Oversized material was foldered and housed appropriately according to its size. The majority of the physical audiovisual material were identified as commercial recordings and were separated from the collection. The retained audiovisual material was numbered, labeled, and listed individually within their appropriate series inventory. One optical disc was retained in the collection as an ephemeral object. A file title containing harmfully derogatory language regarding Latino/a/x peoples was identified, but was retained to convey important contextual information regarding time and place in which the document and title was created.
Born-digital carriers containing data were forensically imaged, analyzed, and arranged in Forensic Toolkit. The born-digital audio and video recordings were arranged separately in directories on locally-mounted networked storage and intellectually integrated into appropriate series.
New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content.
Repository
Series I. Professional, 1970s-2013, inclusive
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Scope and Contents
This series contains material related to José Muñoz's professional career as a professor and scholarly writer, specifically on queer politics and aesthetics. Muñoz taught college courses during the early to mid-2000s within the Department of Performance Studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. This series contains paper and digital files with course syllabi, course descriptions and announcements, copies of required readings, and departmental correspondence. Muñoz's course material not only represents a sampling of the topics taught at NYU, but also dovetails with themes he wrote about in his essays, articles, books, and presentations. His themes included Latin America and queer sexualities; the overall idea of queerness; and queer artists of color and their positionality in the performance art world. Muñoz also wrote on individual performers and artists including Vaginal Davis, Nao Bustamonte, Bola de Nieve, Andy Warhol, and the band The Gun Club. His writings are documented in this series through drafts, edited proofs, and copies of published articles. This series also contains a selection of Muñoz's source material in paper, digital, and audiovisual formats used to support his scholarly works. Files include exhibition catalogs; event programs; and articles written by others, as well as analog and digital audiovisual recordings of performance art and drag performances. Source material in this series also includes small independent publications from the 1990s, mostly focusing on queer lifestyle and culture. Titles include Pansy Beat, Old, My Comrade, A La Brava, and Perra! Muñoz's involvement as a member of a performance group named Coco Frio during the 2000s includes audio and video performance recordings, scripts, and notes. His engagement with professional conferences and lectures, either as a coordinator and/or speaker is documented in this series through event programs, notes, script drafts, and correspondence.
Research/Source Material -- Exhibition Catalogs and Related, 1970s-2004, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Notated Articles and Essays, 1977, 1988, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Pansy Beat, 1990
Research/Source Material -- Vaginal Davis, 1990s, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Vaginal Davis Performance Recordings, circa 1990s, 2010, 2012, Undated, inclusive
Digital materials
Research/Source Material -- Old, 1990s, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Essays by Leti Volpp, 1990s-2000s, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- My Comrade, 1991, 2004, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Harness N Hairnet, 1995-1998, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- A La Brava, 1996-1997, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Perra!, 1996-1997, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Gab, 1997
Research/Source Material -- Topical Treatments, 1997-1998, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Articles and Chapter Sections, 1998-2012, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Bi Tribune, 2004, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Asian Performance Art, 2004-2013, inclusive
Research/Source Material, 2004-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Research/Source Material -- Suicide, 2006, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- The Gun Club, 2011-2012, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Bola de Nieve, 2012, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- X (American Band), 2013, inclusive
Research/Source Material -- Articles, Papers, Publications, Undated, inclusive
Artwork Images, 1973-1997, Undated, inclusive
Di Prima / Baraka Reading, July 1978, inclusive
Bubble People, 1983
Performance Recordings -- Multiple Events, circa 1990s-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Appearances, Lectures, Conferences, 1991-2013, inclusive
Appearances, Lectures, Conferences, 2001-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- "A Phenomenology of Browness: Flesh and Feelings", circa 1990s-2010s, inclusive
Writings -- "A Jeté Out the Window: Fred Herko's Incandescent Illumination", circa 1990s-2010s, inclusive
Writings -- "Hope in the Face of Heartbreak", circa 1990s-2010s, inclusive
Writings -- "The Utopian Impulse in Queer Art and Politics", circa 1990s-2010s, inclusive
Writings -- "Latino Rapture: Ethnic Affect and the Politics of Feeling", circa 1990s-2010s, inclusive
Writings -- "Tongson Response" and Untitled Works, circa 1990s-2010s, inclusive
Writings -- "Touching Brown, Touching Poverty", circa 1990s-2010s, inclusive
Writings -- Pop Out: Queer Warhol Publisher Catalog and Letter, 1995-1996, inclusive
Writings -- Disidentification Publisher Catalog, 1999
Writings -- "Feeling Brown: Ethnicity and Affect in Ricardo Bracho's The Sweetest Hangover (and Other STDs)", 2000
Writings -- Essay Review Guidelines and Article for Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 2002
Writings -- Script, Creeps with Guinevere Turner, circa 2002
Writings -- "The Virtuosity of Queer Failure: Living in the Shadow of Jack Smith's Atlantis", circa 2003
Writings -- A Companion to LGBT/Q Studies Publishing Agreement, Contributor Notes, 2004
Writings -- Papers, Proposals, Essays, Chapters, 2004-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- Essays and Articles, 2005-2008, inclusive
Writings -- Re: Andy Warhol, 2005-2006, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- I Remember Heaven: Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol Exhibition, 2006
Writings -- The Sense of Watching Tony Sleeping, 2004-2009, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- Cruising Utopia, Publisher Catalog, Publicity, Drafts, and Event Program, 2004-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- Cruising the Toilet: LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka…, 2005-2006, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- Author Queries for Article "From surface to depth, between psychoanalysis and affect", 2009
Writings -- Re: Ana Mendieta, 2010-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- Gimme Gimme This...Gimme Gimme That…, 2010-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- Wise Latinas, 2010-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- Books Containing to Muñoz Work References, 2012
Writings -- The Brown Commons: The Sense of Wildness, 2012-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Writings -- Amateur: The Work of Nao Bustamonte, 2013
Digital materials
Correspondence, 1997-2002, inclusive
Correspondence, 2005-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Exhibitions and Events -- Promotional Material and Catalogs, 1997-2013, inclusive
Coco Frio -- Video Recording, May 2001
Coco Frio -- Audio Recording, May 2001
Digital materials
Coco Frio -- Notes, 2004, 2006, inclusive
Digital materials
Coco Frio -- "Spicville", September 2008
Coco Frio -- Video Recordings, circa 1990s-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
CoCo Frio -- Script, Notes, Undated, inclusive
Coco Frio -- Portrait of Wrongness, Undated, inclusive
Coco Frio -- Footage, Undated, inclusive
Teaching -- Class Descriptions, Assignments, and Announcements, 1999-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Teaching -- Symphony of Voices Concert/Testimonials Program, for Nomination of Muñoz for Teaching Award, April 2004
Teaching -- Faculty-Related, 2004-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
Teaching -- Introduction to Performance Studies Class Readings, Summer 2007
Teaching -- Happening/Performance/Event Conference Program, 2007
Teaching -- Faculty Retreat Agenda, 2009
Dynasty Handbag Performance at Dixon Place, New York City, August 2003-August 2004, 2006, inclusive
Video, August 2003-August 2004, inclusive
Video, August 2003-August 2004, 2006, inclusive
Social Text Project, 2004
Digital materials
Outfest Platinum Series "F", 2004-2006, inclusive
Digital materials
Outfest Platinum Series "F" -- Call for Entries, Description, 2005
Resumes and Biographical Sketches, 2004-2013, inclusive
Digital materials
"Cast No Shadow" Performance Promotional Material, Catalog, 2007
"The Gang" Music Recording, June 11, 2011
Digital materials
Notes, 2012-2013, Undated, inclusive
Filthy Mouth Queer Theory Conference or Psychoanalysis, August 2013
Digital materials
New Slaves -- Performance, September 2013
Digital materials
Muñoz's Interview with Vaginal Davis, Transcript, Undated, inclusive
"Bra Burning with Levitation" Performance -- Marget Long, Undated, inclusive
"Lifestyle", Nao Bustamante Performance, Undated, inclusive
The Weather Underground, Undated, inclusive
Magnetic Fields "Naveed", Undated, inclusive
One Year Performance, Undated, inclusive
Musica Pa' Viejos (For Tio), Undated, inclusive
Digital materials
For Professor Muñoz: On and On; Tearz, Undated, inclusive
Carmelita Tropicana Decade Show, Undated, inclusive
Unknown Event -- Audio Recording, Undated, inclusive
Digital materials
Untitled Audio Recording, Undated, inclusive
Untitled Video Recording, Undated, inclusive
Texture Footage, Undated, inclusive
Series II. Personal, 1990-2014, inclusive
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Scope and Contents
This series contains material from Muñoz's personal life. Ephemera from his doctoral studies at Duke University in the early 1990s include class papers and readings as well as event programs and posters from his involvement in student projects related to performance art and film, including Screen/Society events. Correspondence between friends and family date from the 1990s to mid-2010s. The series contains a significant number of photographs taken by Muñoz and others, often with a phone camera, including selfies and portraits of Muñoz, his two dogs, friends, travel, parties in his home, and arts-related events and performances. These photographs date from 2007 to 2010. This series also contains a program from his memorial service sponsored by NYU in 2014, small artworks potentially created by Muñoz, contact lists, an address book, and ephemera given by friends and family.
