Queer Borders and Belongings: Reparative Storytelling from El Paso
Presenter(s)
Mary McLoughlin
Files
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
Recommended Citation
"Queer Borders and Belongings: Reparative Storytelling from El Paso" (2020). Stander Symposium Projects. 1799.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/1799
