Queer futurity and toxic temporalities in the Anthropocene

Grogan, Erin Elise

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117755 Copy

Description

Title

Queer futurity and toxic temporalities in the Anthropocene

Author(s)

Grogan, Erin Elise

Issue Date

2022-11-14

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Somerville, Siobhan

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

• Somerville, Siobhan
• Beauchamp, Toby

Committee Member(s)

• Barnard, John
• Frost, Samantha
• Littlefield, Melissa

Department of Study

English

Discipline

English

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Queer theory
• Anthropocene
• Futurity
• Environmental humanities

Abstract

My research aims to reconcile the gap between the futures queer theory has imagined and the futures of climate crisis. The antisocial thesis debate in queer theory represents a body of work that has grappled with temporality and futurity. Within the antisocial debate, some theorists argue that queerness and futurity are intimately linked, while others argue that queerness demands a refusal of futurity. However, in neglecting to account for the conditions of the Anthropocene, or the geological epoch that recognizes the irreparable impact of humans on the planet, none of these theories address the futures we actually face. In this project, I read concepts from the antisocial debate through the lens of the Anthropocene. In so doing, I theorize queer futurity to account for threats of climate change and pollution. This project serves as an intervention into queer theory via the temporal. In my first chapter, I consider Lee Edelman’s critique of reproductive futurism alongside the work of youth environmental activists. I analyze the hypothetical visions of these activists to argue that they offer articulations of future reproduction that do not uphold racialized heteronormativity. In my second chapter, I read José Esteban Muñoz’s concepts of queer futurity and queer utopia through the lens of Anthropocene oceans. I do so to demonstrate how the conditions of the Anthropocene delimit theories of queer futurity, while I argue that we might still long for future queer utopias. In my third chapter, I return to Alison Kafer’s idea of crip time to theorize the imbrication of queer and crip futurity. I examine Sins Invalid’s performance We Love Like Barnacles: Crip Lives in Climate Chaos as a metaphor for theories of queer-crip futurity and survival in the Anthropocene. Together, my chapters demonstrate how the Anthropocene has reconfigured notions of temporality and futurity. I argue for a commitment to both theorizing and enacting queer futurity despite the bleakness of the Anthropocene.

Graduation Semester

2022-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Erin Grogan

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