Presented by Ian Whalen, UM Alum (2015 and 2017) and Sociology Ph.D. Candidate, University of Colorado-Boulder.

About the Presentation:

It is impossible to ignore the acceleration in legislation explicitly targeting transgender individuals in contemporary society. Legislation in other states and at home (“Don’t Say Gay Bill”-FL 1 Gender Affirming Care Ban—FL 2 & MS 3 ) demands us to take the growing specter of fascism seriously. Mississippi is no different. Just this year alone, a staggering 31 house bills were introduced and debated in committee review. The aims of these bills are clear in their motivation and goal—to criminalize and ban transgender healthcare and their public existence. 4 Regardless of the success such legislation has, they nonetheless exemplify the growing influence of governing silence(s) in the everyday lives of LGBTQ+ Mississippians. This talk will engage data drawn from the Queer Mississippi Oral History Project and explore how governing silences are negotiated and resisted by LGBTQ+ Mississippians.

About Ian:

Ian is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests include men and masculinities, queer theory, and LGBTQ Studies. He completed his BA in History (2015) and his MA in Sociology (2017) at the University of Mississippi. His previous research has examined the social construction of gender and its intersections with sexuality and technology. He has also collaborated on research that examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gendered division of labor within family households. His dissertation engages archival data and life history interviews to interrogate the social processes that influence the formation of queer selfhood in rural contexts. 

Hosted by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.