Dissertation Research 

While the sociological study of gender and sexuality has long centered the experiences of LGBTQ individuals in the production of social theory, debate persists. This debate rests upon the tension between generalizing from the metropole and projecting a homogenized queer subjectivity onto the rural. The intention is never clearly articulated, but the impact remains the same. Namely, the idea that the city holds the tools for liberation, progress, and self-actualization, while the rural remains hindered by conservativism, oppression, and isolation. This study aims to disrupt this pattern of generalization and add nuance to our understanding of the emergence of a queer subjectivity and identity that is not rooted in metronormativity.

This research will engage with archival methods using publicly available data sets housed in the Queer Mississippi archive at the JD Williams Library at the University of Mississippi. This collection contains a wide array of materials, including private correspondences, judicial papers and rulings, photographs, and life history interviews with LGBTQ-identified Mississippians. Engaging with this primary sourced data, namely the life history interviews, this research will explore the emergent factors associated with a queer subjectivity and identity. 

The central questions that govern this research surround a focal point that problematizes metronormative understandings of queer subjectivity and its formation. The central questions that this research will address are the following:

• How might geographic location, especially outside metropolitan contexts, influence and inform how queer individuals come to form a queer subjectivity?

•  How do rural queer folks come to understand their identity within larger discourses of queerness?

•  How do state and localized politics and culture impact the formation of queer subjectivity in rural contexts?

These questions help us better understand queer subjectivity formation outside typical and metronormative frameworks. In addition, forging new frameworks to better understand how LGBTQ folks navigate social-sexual life outside of major metropolitan cities will add needed insight into how marginalizable individuals come to navigate the social world.