Abolición del pato: Discourses of Puerto Rican Queer Modernity and Performance.
The Department of American Culture is excited to present its final workshop in our winter series.
Dr. Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes will be giving the following presentation:
Abolición del pato: Discourses of Puerto Rican Queer Modernity and Performance.
In this self-reflexive paper, I discuss my 2004 performance Abolición del pato (Abolition of the Duck) and the more recent publication in 2013 of an eponymous book of fiction in relation to the contemporary literary and performance scene in Puerto Rico, particularly in relation to figures such as Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya (director of Casa Cruz de la Luna in San Germán) and Mayra Santos-Febres. I retrace the performance’s process of creation and explore some of its key questions, including the relationship of adoption and historical memory (particularly regarding slavery), the intersections of racism and homophobia, and their contestation by the queer of color critique. I propose that Abolición del pato forms part of an experimental, queer, feminist tradition interested in challenging historical amnesia and prejudice in Puerto Rico and the United States.
Paper available for pre-circulation. RSVP to mejdules@umich.edu. Please excuse multiple postings.
Lunch is provided.
