Funeral Camp is an exploration of grief and humour through the media of video, performance and installation. This exhibition examines the relationships between death, humour, play and camp and how they relate to aspects of queer spirituality and to queer communities, The themes explored in this body of work include death, nature, culture, witchcraft, play, drag, sadness and glamour. Funeral Camp and the questions I pose are in part, a gay man’s perspective on having survived the AIDS epidemic. As part of my research on these topics I question if it is possible to express humour and grief simultaneously in a body of work. Can works of art be simultaneously camp and deeply emotional at the same time?

specialcollections@tulane.edu / Memorials, monuments, museums, and public spaces “honor the memory” of people or events that have some claim to that space. In these myths that become spatial in the public realm, who is it that gets remembered? Certainly, these projects are important for the desire to pass along history and offer space to gather and contemplate. However, they are not without myriad problems. Rituals are not solely contemplative practice, they need action to transform. In mourning and memorial, we transform a sometimes painful past into a more positive future. Critique of these projects can only encourage better iterations in the future. This thesis will imagine a space meant to allow its occupants to live with this history with the goal of crafting a future through collaborative praxis. While ritual spaces have a long history and many forms, the museum and archive have evolved radically in their trajectories. Beginning with a temple or government plunder display and moving into the public education centers of contemporary times, museums now occupy both a public and private sphere. These spaces operate by telling stories about the public it seeks to serve and are prime locations to explore queer narratives. Further, the act of living with this history can blur the lines of public and private for the occupants. Through an exploration of what queer modes of display would be from material choice to the intended audience, the space itself can become an active participant in these narratives, bridging time and space towards a more nuanced understanding of queer lives. / 1 / Dana Elliot

This thesis presents the basic principles of the functioning of the heteronormative order: in what way heterosexuality is constructed as the norm and in what way it is maintained as such. The thesis simultaneously examines the possibilities of disrupting the heteronormative order, creating queer spaces, and defining the term queer and queer politics in the framework of a queer subculture. The aim of the research carried out within the thesis is to contribute to the visibility of queer subculture, present ways in which the term queer is used in queer subculture and show to what degree the examined queer subcultural spaces are created as open spaces and to whom they are accessible. In the Czech Republic the term queer is used as a synonym for LGBT identities or as an umbrella term for LGBTI people and activities. Nevertheless, as follows from the analysis of semi-structured interviews, the term queer can have even other meanings. It can express criticism of heteronormativity, homonormativity, mainstream LGBT politics and culture, and the attempt to overcome the norms connected with gender and sexuality. In this regard, the term queer can refer not only to an identity and also to a political position. The interweaving of queer and feminist theory can be inspiring not only for the development of gender...

This essay explore the enabling in queer and in art. How do art and queer relate to each other? What can enabling look like, and howdoes queer reate to art and art to queer in the form of enabling? My research studies queer people who create art in diffrent ways. With Sara Ahmed´s queer phenomenology (2006) and "orientation" the essay analyzes the interviewees experiences of art and queer and the lifeworlds of these artists. The study shows that art can be a part of or create something new or different for queer bodies to orient themselves from and towards. The study also shows how art challenges the hegemonic notions of reality just as queer does. That the art and the artists own interpretations that this study analyzes ar not inhibited by the produces and constantly reproduced notions of what is possible.

Orientador(a): Patricia Porchat Pereira da Silva Knudsen / Banca: Larissa Maués Pelúcio Silva / Banca: Thamy Claude Ayouch / Resumo: Ainda que o debate sobre as relações entre educação e sexualidade venha se ampliando nos últimos anos no contexto brasileiro, é notável com o aumento de situações que envolvem aviltamentos à realização da educação sexual nas escolas, que também as resistências a esse debate acompanhem sua ampliação. Para a psicanálise, a emergência de resistências subjetivas se dá quando o movimento das ideias e dos afetos entram em conflito. Quando relacionadas à educação sexual, estas resistências podem ser representadas, sobretudo, pelo pânico moral decorrente de construções discursivas que associam este campo a uma prática pedagógica "perigosa" que supostamente teria o poder de produzir sujeitos desviantes dos ideais heteronormativos de gênero e de sexualidade. Nesta pesquisa, de caráter bibliográfico-investigativo, reconhecendo a importância de compreender este fenômeno para além de seu aparente essencialismo e pondo em questão, através da psicanálise, aquilo que as próprias resistências podem elucidar sobre aqueles que resistem e sobre aquilo que desperta resistências, busca-se identificar e problematizar diferentes modos de se resistir a modelos "normativos", "críticos" e "pós-identitários" de educação sexual. A obra da psicanalista estadunidense Deborah Britzman, na medida em que oferece subsídios para o alcance do objetivo geral da pesquisa de investigar mecanismos psíquicos envolvidos nas resistências à educação sexual, torna-se a base deste trabalho. Articulando escritos selecionad... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Although the debate about the approach between education and sexuality has been growing in recent years in the Brazilian context, it is remarkable that also situations that involve criticisms to the realization of sex education in schools have been growing as well. So, the resistances to this debate also have been accompanying its expansion. For psychoanalysis, the emergence of subjective resistance occurs when the movement of ideas and affects come into conflict. When related to sex education, these resistances can be represented, above all, by the moral panic arising from discursive constructions that associate this educational field with a "dangerous" pedagogical practice that supposedly would have the power to produce deviant subjects from heteronormative ideals of gender and sexuality. In this bibliographical-investigative research, recognizing the importance of understanding this phenomenon beyond its essentialist appearance and calling into question, through psychoanalysis, what resistance itself can elucidate about those who resist and about that which arouses resistance, the aim is to identify and to problematize different ways of resisting "normative", "critical" and "post-identitary" sex education models. Therefore, the work of the North-American psychoanalyst Deborah Britzman becomes the basis of this work since it provides support to achieve the research's general purpose which is to investigate psychic mechanisms involved in resistances to sex education. Articul... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Disney movies are a vehicle for American culture; however, Disney has lagged behind in representing queer people in their films as protagonists. For this reason, critical scholarship is necessary to understand Disney's role in building, replicating or changing culture. Although some critical work on Disney has focused on gender or race, queer theory is underutilized to understand Disney films, especially in the field of communication. Though much research exists on movies from the Disney Renaissance, relatively few have examined the films released in the past decade in a systematic way, focusing on how the movies may be relatable to queer experiences. This analysis combines a queer theory lens and a grounded theory approach to examine where queer people can find their experiences reflected in the most recent Disney movies, even without openly queer protagonists. The study resulted in the formation of six categories that describe instances of queering and queerness in Disney movies: queering of Disney logic, queering of "appropriate" through mature themes, queering of power and violence, villainous queerness, heroic queerness and queer acceptance. Previous literature and the new categories from this study as a whole suggest that the Walt Disney Company is taking small steps to offer more diverse narratives and subvert expectations in ways that allow queer people to read their experiences in the characters on screen. / Master of Arts / Disney movies are a multi-billion dollar industry (Vary, 2020), and the company has taken steps in recent years to feature more diverse storylines and characters in their animated movies. Despite this, there is yet to be an openly queer protagonist in a Disney animated film. With this fact in mind, this study seeks to find places where queer people can still see themselves and their experiences reflected in the Disney films release in the last decade. These instances range from ambiguity that allows audiences to read a character as similar to themselves to moments that question the power structures that push certain people to the margins of society in the first place. Six categories were created after analysis to describe these moments: the queering of Disney logic, the queering of "appropriate" through mature themes, the queering of power and violence, villainous queerness, heroic queerness and queer acceptance. Taken together, these findings and the previous research on Disney suggests the company is slowly moving to open up storylines to allow more people to see their experiences reflected in the movies.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Lisa M. Harrington / This research examines the intersections of sexuality and gender identity and how differing socio-cultural networks are important to how we can begin to address multiple issues affecting rural America. The overarching question of the research was: How do sexuality and gender identity minorities living in rural areas experience or perceive where they live and the community networks that they navigate? Subtopics included the factors that contribute to an LGBT individual living in the Flint Hills, whether individual sexual and gender identities and perception affect concepts of location and community, and how one’s sexuality or gender identity affects the lived experience in a rural region. A multi-disciplinary approach based on Geography and LGBT Studies, using interviews and surveys of distinctive rural populations in the Flint Hills of Kansas, was applied. Five focus groups and 31 individual interviews yielded information about LGBT community concerns in the Flint Hills. A broader region was represented through an electronic survey which accessed a large population anonymously through a variety of social networking sites. The survey yielded 119 complete responses. Discrimination was a concern and sense of community was important. Many individuals acknowledged that they had a system of navigation of rural environments: where to go, to whom to speak openly, how to blend in to the larger population. Despite fears that were expressed, there was a sense of resilience among participants related to living in a relatively rural region. A sense of queer community and an acknowledgement of a rural community were important. Community connections are a major factor contributing to the individual’s lived experience and perception of the Flint Hills. For most of the participants, identity as a rural LGBT person or as part of the (relatively) rural queer community is important. There is a strong affinity to what individuals view as rural, and they view rural as being different from urban landscapes and communities.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Lisa M. Harrington / This research examines the intersections of sexuality and gender identity and how differing socio-cultural networks are important to how we can begin to address multiple issues affecting rural America. The overarching question of the research was: How do sexuality and gender identity minorities living in rural areas experience or perceive where they live and the community networks that they navigate? Subtopics included the factors that contribute to an LGBT individual living in the Flint Hills, whether individual sexual and gender identities and perception affect concepts of location and community, and how one’s sexuality or gender identity affects the lived experience in a rural region. A multi-disciplinary approach based on Geography and LGBT Studies, using interviews and surveys of distinctive rural populations in the Flint Hills of Kansas, was applied. Five focus groups and 31 individual interviews yielded information about LGBT community concerns in the Flint Hills. A broader region was represented through an electronic survey which accessed a large population anonymously through a variety of social networking sites. The survey yielded 119 complete responses. Discrimination was a concern and sense of community was important. Many individuals acknowledged that they had a system of navigation of rural environments: where to go, to whom to speak openly, how to blend in to the larger population. Despite fears that were expressed, there was a sense of resilience among participants related to living in a relatively rural region. A sense of queer community and an acknowledgement of a rural community were important. Community connections are a major factor contributing to the individual’s lived experience and perception of the Flint Hills. For most of the participants, identity as a rural LGBT person or as part of the (relatively) rural queer community is important. There is a strong affinity to what individuals view as rural, and they view rural as being different from urban landscapes and communities.

Detta examensarbete kommer att belysa hur genus stereotypiseras och hur heteronormativitet reproduceras i skolan. Pedagogisk forskning med genus- och/eller queerfokus har länge fastnat vid klassrumspraktiker vilket gör att väldigt lite ljus har fallit på vad eleverna faktiskt läser. Arbetet innebär ett försök att bredda genus- och queerforskningen inom pedagogisk verksamhet till att även inkludera undervisningsmaterial såsom läromedel. Syftet med att analysera läromedel inom svenskämnet för årskurs 7-9 utifrån ett queerperspektiv är att belysa hur genus representeras och i vilken utsträckning heteronormativitet framhävs i de läromedel i svenskämnet som används mest frekvent i dagsläget. Datainsamlingen har skett med hjälp av kriteriebaserad kvalitativ sampling, och analysmetoden var diskursanalys med socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv. Resultatet var nedslående, i den bemärkelsen att kvinnligt genus skildras på ett övervägande negativt sätt, ickebinärt genus är totalt marginaliserat, HBTQ-identiteter är ytterst marginaliserade och dessutom totalt andrafierade. Mycket liknar tidigare forskning från bland annat Australien och Norge. Med deras läromedelsanalyser som bas kan vi inom svensk läromedelsanalys med queerperspektiv addressera problemen och på ett mer målinriktat sätt skapa en skola som faktiskt är till för alla.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Lisa M. Butler Harrington / This research examines the intersections of sexuality and gender identity and how differing socio-cultural networks are important to how we can begin to address multiple issues affecting rural America. The overarching question of the research was: How do sexuality and gender identity minorities living in rural areas experience or perceive where they live and the community networks that they navigate? Subtopics included the factors that contribute to an LGBT individual living in the Flint Hills, whether individual sexual and gender identities and perception affect concepts of location and community, and how one’s sexuality or gender identity affects the lived experience in a rural region. A multi-disciplinary approach based on Geography and LGBT Studies, using interviews and surveys of distinctive rural populations in the Flint Hills of Kansas, was applied. Five focus groups and 31 individual interviews yielded information about LGBT community concerns in the Flint Hills. A broader region was represented through an electronic survey which accessed a large population anonymously through a variety of social networking sites. The survey yielded 119 complete responses. Discrimination was a concern and sense of community was important. Many individuals acknowledged that they had a system of navigation of rural environments: where to go, to whom to speak openly, how to blend in to the larger population. Despite fears that were expressed, there was a sense of resilience among participants related to living in a relatively rural region. A sense of queer community and an acknowledgement of a rural community were important. Community connections are a major factor contributing to the individual’s lived experience and perception of the Flint Hills. For most of the participants, identity as a rural LGBT person or as part of the (relatively) rural queer community is important. There is a strong affinity to what individuals view as rural, and they view rural as being different from urban landscapes and communities.