Preserving Queer History Drag Balls as Bakhtinian Carnivalesque and Sociological Ingroup Phenomenon in Paris is Burning

Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Clark, Maribeth

Keywords

Queer, Bakhtin, Carnivalesque, Grotesque, Drag Ball, Paris is Burning, Sociological Ingroup, Ingroup, Outgroup

Area of Concentration

General Studies

Abstract

In this thesis, I reiterate the importance of archiving the cultural events of queer and other marginalized peoples. I use the film Paris Is Burning, which captures drag ball culture in 1980s Harlem, as an example of this documentation. The evidence of the culture depicts lower-class, queer people of color with specialized identities and values opposite ofthose of the outside society. This inversion of values and the presence of people who might be characterized as "grotesque" is reminiscent of Bakhtin's notion of the camivalesque. When framing the drag ball as carnivalesque, it is possible to see drag ball culture as a sociological ingroup. This status explains that the marginalized remain marginalized as they self-identify as such, while also reinforcing hegemony through the iterative performance of their oppressors as the powerful inverse of themselves. These behaviors guarantee the carnival as a safe space for its participants, who are unable to subsist similarly in the outside world. Their behaviors are more easily accepted, but only with the dilution of meaning they undergo in the process of being co-opted by the mainstream. Examples of these complications fortify the claim that queer history must be protected through documentation.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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