08/02/2018
The Times newspaper was amongst those papers paying tribute this week to Professor Alan Sinfield, who has passed away at the age of seventy five. Professor Sinfield was an expert in English literature at the University of Sussex at Brighton and author of a round a dozen books. He also convened the study programme Sexual Dissidence and brought American style queer theory to British shores. Professor Sinfield analysed popular cultures and trends and found the homoerotic undertones in phenomena such as boy bands, skinheads and football teams. He also took time out from studies to offer his support to the new Queer Activism of the nineteen nineties, backing groups such as ACT UP and OutRage! “I don't care if they are silly”, he quipped in Gay Times back in 1992. “They are having a major effect on social change”. Professor Sinfield retired in 2004 and lived with his partner in a rural cottage in Shropshire until his death.