Without the Closet: A Critical Exploration of Queer Experiences of Visibility

Julia Harris, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A247

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-25-2014 2:45 PM

End Date

4-25-2014 3:45 PM

Abstract

In this project I use interviews conducted at Oberlin to explore how queer women challenge and resist the dominant paradigm of coming out and enact new modes of understanding queer visibility. Guided by queer and feminist theory, my research reveals queer interventions that trouble the structure and content of the “coming-out narrative.” While the coming-out paradigm has served a political purpose for LGBT communities in recent decades, my research and analysis of alternative, contemporary narratives that challenge the relevance of this paradigm in today’s world highlight new modes of understanding queer experience.

Notes

Session II, Panel 11 - A Voice of One’s Own: Reflections on Writing, “Coming Out,” and Composing
Moderator: Jan Miyake, Conservatory Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Music Theory

Full text thesis available here.

Major

Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies; Studio Art

Advisor(s)

Meredith Raimondo, Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies
Pipo Nguyen-Duy, Studio Art

Project Mentor(s)

Anuradha Needham, Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies

April 2014

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Apr 25th, 2:45 PM Apr 25th, 3:45 PM

Without the Closet: A Critical Exploration of Queer Experiences of Visibility

Science Center, A247

In this project I use interviews conducted at Oberlin to explore how queer women challenge and resist the dominant paradigm of coming out and enact new modes of understanding queer visibility. Guided by queer and feminist theory, my research reveals queer interventions that trouble the structure and content of the “coming-out narrative.” While the coming-out paradigm has served a political purpose for LGBT communities in recent decades, my research and analysis of alternative, contemporary narratives that challenge the relevance of this paradigm in today’s world highlight new modes of understanding queer experience.