Queer Borders and Belongings: Reparative Storytelling from El Paso

Queer Borders and Belongings: Reparative Storytelling from El Paso

Presenter(s)

Mary McLoughlin

Description

At its best, queer theory exposes the ways in which reproductive heteronormativity structures a social order around gendered and relational roles of dominance and submission, but often queer theorists respond to the oppressions they identify with arguments advocating for withdrawal and alienation from the relationships they deem to be damaging. This project takes a different approach by using storytelling to explore how queer theory can go beyond just identifying what is broken about our world, and—instead—offer an embodied queer ethic centered on mending wounds caused by social division and making queer lives livable. Guided by stories from interviews I conducted with community members living at the border in El Paso, I first investigate the role reproductive heteronormativity plays in shaping hierarchical and patriarchal notions of citizenship, immigration policy, community organization, and national belonging, and then I look to the ways queerness—and the love it makes possible—enables alternate and liberatory ways of forming relationships and being together.

Publication Date

4-22-2020

Project Designation

Honors Thesis

Primary Advisor

David J. Fine

Primary Advisor's Department

English

Keywords

Stander Symposium project, College of Arts and Sciences

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Gender Equality

Queer Borders and Belongings: Reparative Storytelling from El Paso

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