Brudner Prize
Encyclopedia
The James Robert Brudner Memorial Prize and Lecture at Yale University
celebrates lifetime accomplishment and scholarly contributions in the field of lesbian and gay studies. It is bestowed annually by the Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale. Recipients receive a cash prize and give a public lecture on the Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut
.
The prize is named for city planner, musician, and photographer James Brudner (1961-1998), a member of the Yale College
class of 1983. Brudner died of AIDS
-related illness on September 18, 1998. Through his will he established the prize and lecture as "a perpetual annual prize for scholarship in the history, culture, anthropology, biology, etiology, or literature of gay
men and lesbians or related fields, or for advancing the understanding of homosexuality
as a phenomenon, or the tolerance of gay men and lesbians in society."
James Robert Brudner '83 was an AIDS activist, urban planner, journalist, and photographer. A man of wit and compassion, outsized knowledge and curiosity, Jim valued both academic inquiry and direct action. He spent 12 years as a policy analyst for the City of New York. He also earned an MA in journalism from New York University and wrote for various publications on gay- and AIDS-related topics. Jim became a member of ACT UP, the Treatment Action Group, and other organizations after the death of his twin brother, Eric, of AIDS in 1987. He worked on treatment and prevention issues with the National Institutes of Health, pharmaceutical corporations, and federal agencies. In his final years he devoted much of his time to traveling the back roads of rural America with a camera. La Mama Gallery in New York mounted an exhibition of his photographs in 1997. Jim died of AIDS-related illness on September 18, 1998 at the age of 37.
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
celebrates lifetime accomplishment and scholarly contributions in the field of lesbian and gay studies. It is bestowed annually by the Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale. Recipients receive a cash prize and give a public lecture on the Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
.
The prize is named for city planner, musician, and photographer James Brudner (1961-1998), a member of the Yale College
Yale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
class of 1983. Brudner died of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
-related illness on September 18, 1998. Through his will he established the prize and lecture as "a perpetual annual prize for scholarship in the history, culture, anthropology, biology, etiology, or literature of gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
men and lesbians or related fields, or for advancing the understanding of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
as a phenomenon, or the tolerance of gay men and lesbians in society."
James Robert Brudner '83 was an AIDS activist, urban planner, journalist, and photographer. A man of wit and compassion, outsized knowledge and curiosity, Jim valued both academic inquiry and direct action. He spent 12 years as a policy analyst for the City of New York. He also earned an MA in journalism from New York University and wrote for various publications on gay- and AIDS-related topics. Jim became a member of ACT UP, the Treatment Action Group, and other organizations after the death of his twin brother, Eric, of AIDS in 1987. He worked on treatment and prevention issues with the National Institutes of Health, pharmaceutical corporations, and federal agencies. In his final years he devoted much of his time to traveling the back roads of rural America with a camera. La Mama Gallery in New York mounted an exhibition of his photographs in 1997. Jim died of AIDS-related illness on September 18, 1998 at the age of 37.
Winners
- 2011-2012 - David M. Halperin, scholar
- 2010-2011 - Mary BonautoMary BonautoMary Bonauto is an American lawyer and civil rights advocate who has worked to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. She began working with the Massachusetts-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders organization in 1990...
, attorney and civil rights advocate - 2009-2010 - Edwin CameronEdwin CameronEdwin Cameron is a South African Rhodes scholar and current Constitutional Court justice. Cameron served as a Supreme Court of Appeal judge from 2000 to 2008. He was the first senior South African official to state publicly that he was living with HIV/AIDS...
, human rights lawyer and justice of South Africa Constitutional Court - 2008-2009 - Cathy J. CohenCathy J. CohenCathy J. Cohen is an American author, feminist and social activist whose work has focused onthe African American experience in politics from a perspective which is underlined by intersectionality....
, scholar - 2008 - Didier EribonDidier EribonDidier Eribon is a French author and philosopher, and a historian of French intellectual life.- Biography :Didier Eribon was born in Reims....
, philosopher (Eribon returned the prize in 2011: see his letter "I Return the Brudner Prize" on his personal homepage : http://didiereribon.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-return-brudner-prize.html) - 2007 - B. Ruby RichB. Ruby RichB. Ruby Rich is an American scholar, critic of independent, Latin American, documentary and gay films, and a professor of Film & Digital Media and Social Documentation also known as "SocDoc" at UC Santa Cruz. She has also taught documentary film and queer studies during spring semesters at UC...
, critic - 2006 - Matthew Coles, Director, American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties UnionThe American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
Gay and Lesbian Rights Project - 2005 - John D'EmilioJohn D'EmilioJohn D'Emilio is a professor of history and of women's and gender studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1982, where his advisor was William Leuchtenburg...
, writer and educator - 2004 - Judith ButlerJudith ButlerJudith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler received her Ph.D...
, philosopher - 2003 - Jonathan Ned KatzJonathan Ned KatzJonathan Ned Katz is an American historian of human sexuality who has focused on same-sex attraction and changes in the social organization of sexuality over time...
, historian - 2002 - Eve Kosofsky SedgwickEve Kosofsky SedgwickEve Kosofsky Sedgwick was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory , and critical theory. Her critical writings helped create the field of queer studies...
, scholar - 2001 - Lillian FadermanLillian FadermanLillian Faderman is a scholar whose books on lesbian relationships and romantic friendship in history have earned critical praise and awards. Faderman is a professor of English at California State University in Fresno, California.-Early life:...
, scholar - 2000 - George ChaunceyGeorge ChaunceyGeorge Chauncey is a professor of history at Yale University. He is best known as the author of Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 .-Life and works:...
, historian