Abstract

This thesis attempts to determine where C Magazine and Parachute fit within international developments of theories on identity. Focussing on the period 1983-1996, the study analyzes articles published in these magazines and contextualizes them within theoretical and critical art discourse. Chapter One presents a history of "new art history" and explores the critical milieu from which these journals grew. It also outlines the specific histories of C Magazine and Parachute. Prefaced and contextualized by a brief history of international debates about essentialism, Chapter Two examines these magazines' publication of articles dealing with feminist issues. Foregrounding the developments of gay and lesbian studies and queer theory, Chapter Three explores the appearance in C Magazine and Parachute of articles that address issues of sexual identity. This study is framed by an ongoing discussion of Homi Bhabha's conceptualization of the double inscription of identity through performative action and pedagogical formation, as elucidated in his essay "DissemiNation," published in Nation and Narration.