Queer Hemisphere

Kirstie Dorr
Ethnic Studies
UC San Diego

Deborah Vargas
Ethnic Studies
UC Riverside

Queer Hemisphere convened UC scholars of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, Latin American Studies, Afrolatino Studies, and Caribbean Studies working at the intersections of race, gender, and queer theory to stage an interdisciplinary, multilingual, and transnational dialogue between Latin American queer theory/sexuality studies and US-based women/queer of color feminisms. The group’s winter colloquy (conducted in English, Spanish and Portuguese) enabled a sustained consideration of how queer analytics and hemispheric frames might be productively combined.

To date, the hemispheric circulation of sexuality studies research in English and Spanish language publications has disproportionately showcased contributions of white scholars in the global north, privileging already-dominant sites, subjects, and vocabularies. By applying geo-political pressure to “queer” as an analytical category, the group aimed to generate more textured accounts of and nuanced dialogues about how racialized gender and sexual alterity are produced, lived, and circulated throughout the Americas.