queer appalachia: toward geographies of possibility PDF
Preview queer appalachia: toward geographies of possibility
UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff KKeennttuucckkyy UUKKnnoowwlleeddggee University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2010 QQUUEEEERR AAPPPPAALLAACCHHIIAA:: TTOOWWAARRDD GGEEOOGGRRAAPPHHIIEESS OOFF PPOOSSSSIIBBIILLIITTYY Mathias J. Detamore University of Kentucky, [email protected] RRiigghhtt cclliicckk ttoo ooppeenn aa ffeeeeddbbaacckk ffoorrmm iinn aa nneeww ttaabb ttoo lleett uuss kknnooww hhooww tthhiiss ddooccuummeenntt bbeenneefifittss yyoouu.. RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Detamore, Mathias J., "QUEER APPALACHIA: TOWARD GEOGRAPHIES OF POSSIBILITY" (2010). University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations. 57. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_diss/57 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Mathias J Detamore The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2010 QUEER APPALACHIA: TOWARD GEOGRAPHIES OF POSSIBILITY ____________________________ ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION ____________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Mathias J. Detamore Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Anna J. Secor, Professor of Geography Lexington, Kentucky 2010 Copyright © Mathias J Detamore 2010 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION QUEER APPALACHIA: TOWARD GEOGRAPHIES OF POSSIBILITY Stereotypes about Appalachia abound through dubious and reductive representations of the ‘hillbilly’ icon. Sexuality and how it functions in Appalachia is usually cast from the outside as wild, violent, bestial, incestuous and generally base. Movies such as Deliverance and television shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies and The Dukes of Hazard render images of Appalachian sexuality as hyper-sexual, both naive and violent. These images of Appalachian sexual ignorance and violence that permeate popular culture have had problematic and reductive implications for rural gay/trans Appalachian folk. Mainstream gay culture has often used the perceived meanings of these images to circumscribe and foreclose upon the possibility of rural queer life, rendering the rural as monolithically homophobic and impenetrable. This research attempts to destabilize this perspective and critique the impulse for mainstream gay culture to further marginalize rural gay/trans folk in Appalachia. The project reveals the possibility for rural queer life to exist in Appalachia to show not only its presence, but also its varying forms of visibility. To do this, experimental methodologies are employed, drawing on autoethnography that have located my body as an active participant and research object in one particular Appalachian queer geography. By actively participating in a rural queer network, the possibility for Appalachian queer geographies to exist in ways that surpass popular representations emerge in a way that force us to renegotiate our understandings of homophobia and what sets its conditions. This project begins to uncover and theorize the ways in which kinship as a ‘social technology’ mitigates social strangeness and operates as a means for social protection and intimacy within rural queer populations. This research is presented in a way that neither dismisses nor emphasizes homophobic violence, but rather argues the imperative for strong political advocacy that recognizes both the struggles and accomplishments of rural gay/trans folk. Three interlinked approaches are used to highlight these possibilities and foreclosures: the exterior representation of Appalachian sexuality in American metropolitan gay cultures and its politico-cultural effects on rural gay/trans folk, a more nuanced interpretation of homophobia in Appalachia, and how ‘place’ is made through the operation of rural queer networks. KEYWORDS: Queer Geography, Appalachia and Rurality, Queer Kinship, Autoethnography, Geographies of Possibility ____M_a_th_i_a_s_ J_ D__e_ta_m__o_re_ __________ Student Signature ____J_u_n_e_ 2_4_,_ 2_0_1_0_ _______________ Date QUEER APPALACHIA: TOWARD GEOGRAPHIES OF POSSIBILITY By Mathias J. Detamore ____D_r_._ A_n_n_a_ _J_ S_e_c_o_r_ ____________ Director of Dissertation ____D_r_. _M_i_c_h_a_e_l _S_a_m_e_r_s_ __________ Director of Graduate Studies ____J_u_n_e_ _2_4_, _2_0_1_0_ ______________ RULES FOR THE USE OF DISSERTATIONS Unpublished dissertations submitted for the Doctor's degree and deposited in the University of Kentucky Library are as a rule open for inspection, but are to be used only with due regard to the rights of the authors. Bibliographical references may be noted, but quotations or summaries of parts may be published only with the permission of the author, and with the usual scholarly acknowledgments. Extensive copying or publication of the dissertation in whole or in part also requires the consent of the Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky. A library that borrows this dissertation for use by its patrons is expected to secure the signature of each user. Name Date ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ DISSERTATION Mathias J. Detamore The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2010 QUEER APPALACHIA: TOWARD GEOGRAPHIES OF POSSIBILITY ____________________________ DISSERTATION ____________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Mathias J. Detamore Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Anna J. Secor, Professor of Geography Lexington, Kentucky 2010 Copyright © Mathias J Detamore 2010 I dedicate this work to: My mother, Pamela Detamore and my father, Richard Detamore for their continued support, admiration and love through all of my endeavors Dr. Colleen McTague who found a troubled architecture student and turned him into a geographer and My boyfriend and partner in crime Steven Glowicki, my muse who inspired me to finish
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