Thursday, November 02, 2:30 pm–4:30 pm
Forum Suite
This live event will not be recorded.
Sponsored by the Folk Arts and Material Culture Section, the LGBTQIA+ Section
Chair: Micah J. Ling (Indiana University)
2:30 pm
Dyke Kitsch: Lesbian Aesthetics, Rubbish, and Queer Materiality in America
Emma Carey Cobb (Ohio State University)
3:00 pm
Cut-offs and Cottagecore Mean Girls: Queer-Gender Performance in American Old-Time Music
Micah J. Ling (Indiana University)
3:30 pm
“Say what you want about long dresses, but they cover a multitude of shins”: Costume and the Construction of the Humorous Hyper-Femme
Emmie Pappa Eddy (Indiana University)
4:00 pm
optional discussion time
In queer communities the creation and performance of identity is rooted in reimaginations of dominant culture. Strategic moments of visibility are made possible through material culture, with individuals offering connection and shared lineage through encoded imagery. Papers presented respond to Guillermo de los Reyes and Cory Thorne’s (2021) call to use the tools of folklore to “see queer theory as a practice of everyday life” (80). Through discussions of queer dress in old-time music communities, within American theater history, and the use of dyke kitsch in communal spaces and memes, this panel explores the conscious traditionalization of queer material culture.