Queer Intersectionalities/Queer Folkloristics

Abstract

Abstract: We aim to raise awareness of the value of queer theory to folklore scholarship, vis-à-vis the ways in which a folklore studies lens serves to enhance queer theory and other forms of critical theory and discourse in relation to 2SLGBTQI+ lives. Furthermore, we discuss how queerness extends well beyond the study of sex, sexuality, and gender into all facets of everyday life. We highlight the role of marked (queer) and unmarked (heteronormative) identities in everyday life and folklore while continuously reconsidering and deepening our understanding of such complex yet superficial notions of dichotomy. The essays in this collection address concerns about folklore scholarship that is confined by heteropatriarchal ways of seeing, thus inadvertently supporting sex stigmatization, ignoring the intersectionality of queerness, and erasing the complexity of 2SLGBTQI+ identities, communities, and philosophies as they extend beyond sexual acts and identities into every folklore genre. They demonstrate how queer theory is enhanced through a focus on the experience of everyday life and the creative and coded acts of vernacular resistance that remain hidden, yet which contribute to empowerment. The articles in this issue highlight how cishet-colonial binaries are enforced through institutional forms of knowledge, including our educational systems and academic conventions.