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Performing, Sensing, Being: Queer Identity in Everyday Life

Rudnick, Justin J.

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2016, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Communication Studies (Communication).
Drawing from performance, affect, and queer theories, I explore how queer identity is storied, performed, and sensed in everyday life. I access performance and sensory ethnographic practices to examine how queer persons “do” their identities on a daily basis. I draw from data collected through ethnographic participation in a queer-friendly district of Columbus, Ohio in addition to in-depth interviews with fourteen self-identified queer persons I met through my fieldwork. My approach privileges observations and reflections of mundane moments of everyday life to position queer identity as a routine, repetitive, habitual, and otherwise performative practice. I question the emphasis on verbal disclosures of queer identity in both academic literature and lived experience by positing a distinction between “coming out” and “being out.” Working from this distinction, I investigate the purpose of queer identity stories, how queer identity is embodied, the affect generated by queer identity, and the way a cohesive queer community is challenged by differences in identity performances.
Devika Chawla (Committee Chair)
William Rawlins (Committee Member)
Christina Beck (Committee Member)
Susan Burgess (Committee Member)
244 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Rudnick, J. J. (2016). Performing, Sensing, Being: Queer Identity in Everyday Life [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1466084273

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Rudnick, Justin. Performing, Sensing, Being: Queer Identity in Everyday Life. 2016. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1466084273.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Rudnick, Justin. "Performing, Sensing, Being: Queer Identity in Everyday Life." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1466084273

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)