Graduation Term

2014

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

School of Art

Committee Chair

Melissa Johnson

Abstract

This thesis analyzes Tammy Rae Carland's queer Riot Grrrl zine I (heart) Amy Carter as a counterpublic sphere engendered by acts of public intimacy that make visible the intersectional complexities of gender, sexuality, class, and race that insidious traumas continually work to conceal. It looks to Ann Cvetkovich's inquiries into the positive aspects of public cultures in the book An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures (2006) as well as Mimi Thi Nguyen's investigation of the Riot Grrrl race crisis in the article "Riot Grrrl, Race, and Revival" (2012) as frameworks to critique Carland's visual and textual articulations of the consequences of insidious traumas. It argues that Carland's contributions to Riot Grrrl's world of public intimacy are distinct from those of many other Riot Grrrls and, as such, corroborate Cvetkovich's position that acts of public intimacy are capable of producing positive effects. Ultimately, it is a simultaneous reading of Carland's conception of her world and its associated politics during her formative years, an examination of the relationship between Carland's textual expressions and what she presents visually in I (heart) Amy Carter, as well as a critique of her contemporary culture.

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2014.Rostowsky.A

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