Erasing Identity

Borders
An Anthology

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 Introduction

“Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.”

-Jose Saramgao, Blindness

Identity is not only a collection of characteristics that physically make us who we are, but

our names, thoughts, morals, cultures, and experiences. Our identity can shift and change as we

continue to grow, learn, and have experiences that give us a solid ground to build or reconstruct

our mental framework from. The most impactful way to know and accept the diverse identity of

others is to study, apply, and practice the many different theories that have gotten our society to

open its eyes and realize there is a whole level of understand waiting to be taught and accepted to

better the lives of everyone around us. There is an outstanding number of highly intelligent and

creative diverse writers who have spent an abundance of time creating thought and conversation

provoking pieces of literature that unerase their American experience and better help the rest of

us understand the importance of challenging patriarchy instead of the falling in line with the

broken system of compliance. As we open the page to one of said pieces, it compels one to read,

watch, and discover many others. These pieces of work braid together the concepts of different

theories that help us better understand a life not is not our own but is unknowingly controlled and

influenced by what we consume and share, therefore making us contributors to erasing identities.

Our societal factors have a large playing factor on our identity and the borderlands that

we have created. Borderlands such as ability/disability, in order to understand ourselves, our

cultures, and those who came before us we must understand the raw truth of the American

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experience that more often than not has been relayed to us in a rather mangled manner. This is

because history is interpreted differently depending on the point of view it is being given from.

For most of us we can relate to courses starting at vulnerable ages about economical, political,

and historical that have been shaped from the circulation of power with patriarchy and

colonization. In order to truly unerase the American experience we must seek knowledge and

tools through cultural and literary theories, such as: Critical Race Theory (CRT), Disability

studies, Queer Theory, Cultural Studies, Monster Theory, and Intersectionality Feminism. These

help us analyze, interpret, and understand the ways our memories have been tainted with

falsehoods. Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, who was founder of Intersectionality says it best, “A

lot of people think that intersectionality is only about identity. But it’s also about how race and

gender are structured in particular workforces.” Reading pieces by diverse authors such as

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s counter-narrative “The Danger of a Single Story” will create an

eye-opening experience into the false stereotypes, myths, and identity formation placed on many

immigrants and their American experience. Reading Julie Hakim Azzam’s “How to Erase an

Arab” emphasizes concepts of Cultural Studies by organizing cultural artifacts such as food

habits, music, and so on by power relations to teach young generations of immigrants in

American to be embarrassed by their culture and heritage, enticing them to fit the mold of

“normal” we have created that literally no one fits if they are abiding by their genuine identity.

A large consumption of ideals and expectations are done through media. Movies, music,

plays, marketing, and many other platforms. If we study pieces written through theory lenses, we

will see the many ways in which media is construed and controlled by the powerful white

patriarchy and how out of date and crippling these ideas of “normal” are. For there is no normal,

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normal is a president set by those in power. Those in power have been in power as far back as

we’ve known, which is why the unraveling of erased identities, cultures, experiences, and

relationships is a trying and time-consuming process. We need to seek and spread pieces of

media that are changing and challenging corruption. For example, the song “Same Love” by

Ryan Lewis and Macklemore, or the documentary “Trans”. Both are empowering and very

informative at correcting and addressing misinformation about the LGBTQ communities. Aside

from gender identification, a disability activities Jillian Weise uses her powerful speech to create

pieces that challenge us to practice the concept of disability versus impairment, and how it is

society that disables others. The concept of the medical model shows us how the medical

community sets boundaries on what a functioning, healthy, beautiful body looks like. In many

cases, so far outside the realm of possibility it would take an abundance of wealth to match this

mold. Again, targeting the powerful people and leaving everyone else to feel battered and less

fortunate.

Through the usage of Cohen’s Monster Theses, we are taught the ways monsters are used

to place borders on our identities and actions. They symbolize race, sexual orientation, gender.

We can understand the societal expectations and regulations of the time monster by knowing

what time frame the piece was written during. History as uses them as examples to obey and

participate in “social norms”. They also are used to represent patriarchy, wealth, mindless

consumption, and power by placing desired characteristics on such monsters that make the pale,

perfect vampires shine in the sunlight.

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Table of Contents
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2
Author Biographies ............................................................................................................... 6
The Danger of a Single Sided Story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie .......................................... 6
Trans, Chris Arnold .............................................................................................................. 7
How To Erase An Arab, Julie Hakim Azzam .......................................................................... 8
Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros............................................................................. 9
Monster Culture Seven Theses, Jeffery Jerome Cohen ......................................................... 10
Mapping the Margins, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw............................................................ 11
The Wendigo, Louise Erdrich .............................................................................................. 12
Fefu and Her Friends, Maria Irene Fornés ......................................................................... 14
Milk and Honey, Rupi Kaur ................................................................................................. 15
Against ‘Bullying’ or on Loving Queer Kids, Richard Kim ................................................... 16
Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado ......................................................... 18
Same Love, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ............................................................................ 19
There, There, Tommy Orange .............................................................................................. 20
Disability Theory, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson .................................................................. 22
Queer Theory, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick ................................................................................. 23
Nature Poem, Tommy Pico .................................................................................................. 24
Biohack Manifesto, Jillian Weise ......................................................................................... 24
Work Cited: ......................................................................................................................... 27

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 Author Biographies

The Danger of a Single Sided Story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“The single story creates stereotype and the problem with stereotype is not that they
are untrue but that they are incomplete, they make one story become the only story.”

-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Danger of a Single Sided Story

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born and raised in Nigeria where she studied medicine

and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria, until the age of nineteen when she came to the united

states on a scholarship to study communications in Philadelphia at Drexel University. After

Drexel, she continued in communications and political science at Eastern Connecticut State

University. Proceeding, she completed her master’s degree at John Hopkins university,

Baltimore in creative writing. Not to mention a Hodder fellow a Princeton University, and an

MA in African Studies from Yale University. She then was awarded a fellowship at Radcliffe

institute for advanced study, Harvard university.

Adichie’s rich cultured Ted Talk, “The Danger of a Single Sided Story” was a natural

selection for identity formation. She was given an identity at first glance, based on her

appearance on home country. Not only did she prove the world wrong time and time again, she

taught them to see the danger of giving someone a story instead of letting them tell you on their

own. Her piece gives a backbone to identity creation, and the issue with the myths and

stigmatization placed on immigrants. It also borders the issue of fragmentation and provides

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insight for readers to break down their habitual thoughts and let humanity provide their own

identity.

Trans, Chris Arnold

“…in fact, many religious people who think that transgender people are making a
decision about lifestyle based on their sexual needs. That’s the kind of disinformation
that is out there.”

-Chris Arnold

Director Chris Arnold is a graduate from Harvard University where he was also an actor

and director in theatre. He also attended London Art School where he received a Master of Fine

Art degree. He is the creative mind behind many trailers, “Behind the Scene” productions, and

TV spots for popular media such as Mrs. Doubtfire and Home Alone.

His documentary, “Trans”, is one of the most inspiring and mind-altering films for

anyone studying to understand the truth behind the transgender community. It is modern,

contemporary, and raw. It digs deep into just how crucial understanding and applying concepts

of Queer Theory is by exposing the day to day lives of multiple transgender American’s and their

fight against Social Constructivism.

This film is overflowing with happiness and true expression and shows anyone watching it that

gender identity is usually realized by the age of five or six, if it is different than their birth

assigned gender. It dives deep in to breaking societal expectations and gender roles. For we are

taught what social norms are by watching and doing, not because it is genetically instilled in us.

For anyone with negative connotations about transgender youth being confused, into uncommon

sexual activity, or other unjustified stereotypes this documentary will break down walls. You see

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a young gender assigned male gleaming with pure happiness from ear to ear in a princess dress

and glitter on her eyes, as she blows a wish on her birthday cake that she could’ve been born

female. Then a fifty-year-old gender assigned male who has had to give up her own children’s

comfort and encouragement to walk tall in public as a proud transgender woman. I admire the

quote from Chris Arnold saying there is an overabundance of disinformation in terms of the

transgender community. He analyzes, asks hard questions, and receives honest and intriguing

answers and explanations about what it means to be transgender and how it is a physical, mental,

and emotional toll to live in a wrongfully assigned body.

How To Erase An Arab, Julie Hakim Azzam

“It’s bad to lie your way through life. But this is easier, better. What’s worse is how it
keeps happening.” -Julie Hakim Azzam, How to Erase an Arab

Azzam is from Beirut, Lebanon. She now lives in Pittsburg and teaches literature and writing at

the University of Pittsburg. She is most interested in experimental narratives, and stories about

immigrants and refugees, those coping with disability and racial/ethnicity differences.

Her short story, “How to Erase an Arab” describes the experience of a young Arab girl

coping with the “uncommon” traditions and life she has led and how it affects her decision

making and thought processes. This piece is executed as a timeline and therefore touches

different crucial milestones. It is diversely applicable and has takeaway for any reader. Using

symbolism and societal barriers she explains the core values of identity and trying to navigate

youth in a highly influential society while not sacrificing key pieces of where we come from.

Azzam uses marketing and societal normality of everyday scenarios from public school

settings to after school hangouts to describe the “ideal American mold” that is harshly unrealistic

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and unattainable, yet embedded in the minds of those who are most vulnerable: those who don’t

fit into it or appear to be easily swayed. Her piece straddles the borderland of wanting to fit the

marketed mold but knowing how important her culture and values are to her. It emphasizes

concepts of Cultural Studies by organizing cultural artifacts such as food habits, music, and so on

by power relations to entice younger generations of immigrants.

Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago, Illinois. She is a poet, short story writer, novelist,

essayist and performer. She attended Loyola University of Chicago and earned her Bachelor of

Arts degree in English. Continuing on to the University of Iowa she graduated with her Master of

Fine Arts degree in creative writing. She has received several fellowships and honorary

doctorates for international and national awards, including the National Medal of Arts from

Barak Obama.

Cisneros defines the borderland of good girl/bad girl, being obedient and abiding by

patriarchal and gender expectations versus being true to your own identity and value. In her story

she describes the outdated tale of a society that is structured by and favors men. Juan Pedro’s and

Cleófilas engagement was short and planned around his work schedule. It was a business

arrangement, for she mentions she didn’t know what he did for work. This is subordination of

woman at its finest, that they be seen and not heard. Shortly after being husband and wife, Juan

Pedro started to hit her. Instead of fighting back, she would comfort her crying husband. This

represents the expectation that woman can be belittled by their husband’s and should remain

respectful and proud by their side. The story goes on to mention how much Juan Pedro hates the

home they live in and goes around kicking things and grumbling until he decides he gets to leave

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the house and take a break from his screaming baby and stressed wife. This ties into the feminist

concept of patriarchy, a powerful man is stressed and gets to separate himself for the situation

when the woman is expected, even when stressed herself, to remain a supporting wife and

mother. Because the value of the man is greater than the value of the woman, false.

Monster Culture Seven Theses, Jeffery Jerome Cohen

Jeffery Jerome Cohen was born in Cambridge, MA. He attended the University of

Rochester and studied English, creative writing and classics. He earned his PhD in English and

American Literature and Language at Harvard University. He has taught History and Literature

at Harvard and was in the English Department at the George Washington University. He is

currently the Dean of Humanities at Arizona State University. Much of his research and

exploration is around monsters, foreigners, misfits, objects, and inhuman forces and the cultures

that desire them, fear them, and dream about them.

There are seven theses to the monster culture. The Monster’s Body Is a Cultural body,

meaning it is never just a monster, it always signifies something deeper. It is a reflection of fears

and anxieties as well as a projection. They also usually represent power and wealth. In pieces of

literature, you can usually tie the monster and fears associated to a specific era of time or place.

It is also used to represent out mindless consumption. The second one, The Monster Always

Escapes. We see wreckage from the monster, but the monster itself vanishes just to return. When

it returns, it has changed a little. Therefore, each time it has a different meaning thought it is the

same monster. The third one, Monster is the Harbinger of Category Crisis. These monsters do

not fall into a particular crisis category, they are a “disturbing hybrid”, for example a zombie.

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Deceased human but still moving. They do not follow binaries that humanity is so used to and

dwells off of. Because of this phenomenon we don’t know how to stop or defeat them. Fourth is

Monster Dwells at Gates of Difference. This touches on the main theme of borderlands, it is

black/white, heterosexuality/homosexuality. Monster theses are crucial to identity and to unerase

the American experience because they have been used to police and control society and the way

society has scared us into line through media consumption by representing the consequences

when we fall out of said lines.

Mapping the Margins, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw

“A lot of people think that intersectionality is only about identity. But it’s also about
how race and gender are structured in particular workforces.” -Kimberlé Williams
Crenshaw

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw was born in Canton, Ohio. Once graduated high school he

attended Cornell University where she graduated with a bachelor’s in government and Africana

studies. This is when she discovered the gender aspect of races was not very present in college

curricula. She then introduced and formally recognized intersectionality as a concept of

femininity theory. She went on to attend Harvard University Law School receiving a J.D., and

University of Wisconsin where she earned her Master of Law. She joined faculty at UCLA

where she was a leader and founder of Critical Race Theory.

Crenshaw is breaking the borderland of diverse women dependence/independence and

how the factors to the category they fall under are not due to fault of their own. Intersectionality

is a framework for understanding how the political identity of an individual, such as race, gender,

class, religion, etc., can be combined to increase their level of discrimination. This phenomenon

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is crucial in explaining discrimination against women especially, specifically violence against

diverse women. In other pieces of work Crenshaw has focused on Black women’s employment

experiences, but in Mapping the Margins its center is battering and rape against women of color.

She separates the article into two pieces, structural Intersectionality and political

intersectionality.

To study structural components, she went to a battered woman’s shelter in Los Angeles

minority communities. The burdens placed on the women in these shelters comes from a tale as

old as time: gender and class oppression. Then you can place the issues of racial discrimination

applying to employment opportunities. She branches out to mention immigrant women, who may

be wholly dependent on their husbands for a numerous amount of reasons including lack of

employment skills or language barriers. She then goes into detail about sexual violence against

minority women, and how the centers and counselors that get allocated funding are largely white

and middle-class.

Political intersectionality highlights that women of color are placed in at least two

subordinated. Groups that are under frequent conflicting political agendas. As race and

patriarchy is a preexisting issue for male and females of color, gender is more often another issue

for women. Therefore, racism and sexism are at constant play. Crenshaw puts it simply and

powerfully by stating “The failure of feminism to interrogate race means that the resistance

strategies of feminism will often replicate and reinforce the subordination of people of color, and

the failure of antiracism to interrogate patriarchy means that antiracism will frequently reproduce

the subordination of women.”

The Wendigo, Louise Erdrich

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 Louise Erdrich was born in Little Falls, Minnesota but grew up in North Dakota. She

attended Dartmouth college and John Hopkins University. She began her writing career as a poet

but moved into fiction. Today she is best known as a novelist, for adults as well as children. She

braids both sides of her heritage into her characters, Native American and Germany-American.

She explores bigger questions such as identity, the meaning of life, and coincidence versus

pattern in her writing.

Her poem, The Wendigo, is originally about a flesh-eating monster with a heart of

ice. This monster had no gender once the person had transformed. This all according to the

Algonquin-speaking indigenous cultures. Today, the wendigo is still seen through works of art

and told through stories but it’s identity and background has changed wildly as seen in Erdrich’s

poem. The Wendigo also represents Cohen’s 5th Monster culture theory, “Monster Polices

Borders of the Possible”. This theory states that the monster’s prey on those that are breaking

rules, regulations, or time old traditions. By policing, they are removing the issues from society.

Which in the wendigo story means eating the flesh of those who break such rules, the wendigo is

the police. The rules that the Wendigo policed were selfishness, particularly when someone

would put themselves before the community. This also ties in with the concept of monstrum.

They have a fear of starvation, and cannibalism, and the wendigo is obviously a cannibal as he

eats human flesh as well as chews away at his own lips because his desire for flesh is so great.

This is powerful for the theme of identity because if a said person is not obeying the social norms

of the community, they will be punished for doing so. The ending of the poem is powerful as

Erdrich mentions the girl has hands shoveled full of snow, this could mean she has dug her hands

into the ice-cold heart of the wendigo and destroyed it, symbolizing feminism and standing up

against cultural expectations of falling in line.

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Fefu and Her Friends, Maria Irene Fornés

“When I'm not doing something that comes deeply from me, I get bored. When I get bored, I get
distracted and when I get distracted, I become depressed. It's a natural resistance, and it ensures your
integrity.” – Maria Irene Fornés

Maria Irene Fornés was born in Havana, Cuba. She immigrated to the United States in

1945 with her family after her father passed away and was admitted citizenship in 1951. Moving

her way through painting, textile designer, costume designer, she eventually started to develop

her skill of playwriting. She is known for her terrifyingly high standards and work within the

development of youth playwrights of the Hispanic descent to bring diverse voices to the theatre

scene.

Fefu and Her Friends was originally well known for its all-female cast. The play does an

outstanding job at teaching how important a role art can play in fighting for gender equality and

identity. This play ties together multiple concepts from feminist theory such as separatists,

womanism, and performativity. It is about eight women from different backgrounds who are

having a meeting for a community presentation. Throughout the multiple scenes the viewer is

introduced to their personal struggles with topics such as gender, death, isolation, love, and

violence. It is a feminist play that interprets the gender roles and identity specifications during

this era, that despite all the changes made still exist in modern day America. The characters are

unhappy in most aspects of their lives including marriages, homes, and socially. It is meant to

represent the stereotype that woman have a strong drive to control as many people and areas of

their lives as possible to deny the “inevitable” unhappiness.

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 For example, the main character Fefu is going through “spiritual unwellness” and does

not know how to describe it, a theme that has been common when women lose their sense of

identity because it is usually determined for them by their roles as women. Later, she turns the

blame to a friend, Julia who is in a wheelchair, for her insanity. She then attempts to begin a

physical fight with her. There is even a fight between the ladies over who has to do the dishes.

This is key to understanding how to break the borderland of gender identity/gender roles.

Milk and Honey, Rupi Kaur

“People will understand, and they’ll feel it because it all just goes back to the human
emotion. Sadness looks the same across all cultures, races, and communities. So does
happiness and joy.”

Author and illustrator Rupi Kaur moved from

Punjab, India to Ontario, Canada when she was 3 and a

half years old. Her parents encouraged she study science;

she resisted and earned a degree in Rhetoric Studies and

Professional Writing at the University of Waterloo,

Ontario. Keeping an active page blog page with her

writing, she used Tumblr and eventually Instagram.

Publishing was never her intention, she used Amazon’s

CreateSpace platform and published ‘Milk and Honey’. It

was a roaring success. She has been writing straightforward

and relatable poetry about feminist defiance, heart break,

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healing, and love since 2013. Her work has earned her a spot on the New York Times Bestsellers

list. There are multiple poems out of the “Milk and Honey” collection that Kaur represent

breaking out of the borderland of immigrant/native.

The poems I selected are specifically about immigrants and the life that is lived once they

are in America, and their identities are expected to fit the mold. In the first one, Kaur talks about

how those of us who have been born and raised in the United States don’t and won’t feel the

pressure of having to flee your home country and family in search of a fair life. And when they

come here, most the time they can’t even have that because of the broken system. In the second

one she is trying to break the borderland of native/immigrant by applying the term to everyone.

Saying that we trade our mother’s womb for the unknown of the world, and in search of a better

life. But some have to leave their home twice, the second time is to another country.

Against ‘Bullying’ or on Loving Queer Kids, Richard Kim

“It’s tougher, more uncertain work creating a world that loves queer kids, that wants
them to live and thrive. But try—try as if someone’s life depended on it.”

– Richard Kim

Richard Kim is a former executive director for The Nation and is currently employed as

Enterprise Director at The Huffington Post. He has written numerous pieces, one as co-editor on

an anthology which was on the New York Times Best Sellers list and has appeared on MSNBC,

CNN and many other media outlets. He has taught at Skidmore College in New York as well as

New York University.

Kim’s thought-provoking piece on loving queer kids travels through uncharted territories

even for those of us who consider ourselves open minded and accepting, which is exactly the

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kind of content our society needs. He breaks the borderland of condoning/embracing the queer

community. Kim shares his personal experience of being an effeminate queer kid that had to

“improvise survival strategies”, which included protection from a couple of popular kids and

faculty. He shares the story of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, who did not have such resources and

was bullied into taking his own life. Kim gives the benefit of the doubt to the kids who posted

the video of Clementi having sex with another male. Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei did not have a

history of homophobic actions, they may not have been fully aware of the consequences of their

actions, nor triggered Clementi’s death. Gay rights activist like Garden State Equality think

otherwise and want the two charged with a hate crime. Kim goes on to give a heart wrenching

list of names of young men who have taken their lives for similar reasoning. He ties it back to

Clementi, in the matter of wanting the bullies of these young hearts charged with crimes. He

makes a very crucial point, “Few of the articles asked what home life was like for these gay teens

or looked into what role teachers, schools and the broader community played in creating an

environment where the only escape from such routine torment seemed death.”

He heavily uses Queer Theory to express the dire need for wonderful people in positions

of power to set examples and be someone to lean on. Concepts such as heteronormative and the

expectations among it, homophobia, and social constructionism and how they negatively impact

those in need of emotional support and even employment. By employment, I mean losing their

jobs because of their sexual preference. He dives into how openly gay teachers having fuels

anxiety in right-wing policies, instead of embracing that young queer kids who need to relate to

someone could have a person in power to trust and turn to.

The last few lines in Kim’s writing mentions something so powerful and crucial to

applying queer theory to better ourselves and encouraging those around us to be true to their own

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identity, “Imagine saying I really wish my son turns out to be gay. Imagine hoping that your 2-

year-old daughter grows up to be transgendered. Imagine not assuming the gender of your

child’s future prom date or spouse; imagine keeping that space blank or occupied by boys and

girls of all types. Imagine petitioning your local board of education to hire more gay elementary

school teachers.” This is something that should be practiced and thoroughly advocated for. For it

is the only way to help our future generations break the borderland of gay/straight, and instead of

just condoning or saying we accept gay rights, we should wish for them. For that is the only way

to break social constructionism and heteronormative expectations.

Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado

“Many people live and die without ever confronting themselves in the darkness.”

–Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body and Other Parties

Carmen Maria Machado is a short story author and essayist born in Allentown,

Pennsylvania. She attended and earned an MFA from the Iowa’s Writers Workshop. She actually

worked in a retail bath-product store while she wrote “Her Body and Other Parties”. She has

been awarded residencies and fellowships from multiple foundations. Her pieces have been

included in multiple magazines, including The New Yorker and New York Times, and have been

nominated, finalists, and have won numerous awards. She is currently the Writer in Residence at

the University of Pennsylvania and resides in Philadelphia with her wife.

In the collection, “The Husband Stitch” goes into such great symbolism of women’s

identity. The fact that patriarchy has us believe that our husbands should be able to have

whatever they want from us, even if that means our heads fall off which I would connect to our

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sanity. In the story it is literal, Machado writes about how for years and years the protagonist

would not let her husband touch the green ribbon around her neck and would not tell him why.

He did many things for her, was a loving and fulfilling husband but he begged her and would

become frustrated when she wouldn’t tell him about the string. Instead of respecting her privacy

and letting her have it to herself, she finally lets him unwind it and that is when her head falls off.

Same Love, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

“A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are.”

-Macklemore

Given name Ben Haggarty, grew up in Seattle. In 2000 he debuted as Professor

Macklemore. He is a rapper, songwriter, and music producer. He tours internationally with other

big names in the music industry and frequents the top of music charts with his bouncy pop and

rap hits. Aside from music, he is an advocate for addiction recovery and awareness.

“Same Love”, according to radio executives and gay-right advocates, is the first song to

embrace and encourage gay marriage that has hit the Top 40 chart. It hit the No. 5 spot on the

Rap Songs chart where lyrics containing approval of gay rights is scarce, a lyric in the song is

directed right at this fact by saying “If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me. Have you read

the YouTube comments lately?” Macklemore released this single in July 2012, which served as a

theme song for those working on Referendum 74, which legalized same sex marriage in

Washington. Macklemore touches several topics from Social Constructivism, when he mentions

thinking he was gay as a third grader because his uncle was, he could draw and kept his room

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clean. This highlights the gender roles that are placed on us starting at such vulnerable ages,

giving us predetermined characteristics based on our sexual identity.

He then writes the line “America the brave still fears what we don’t know.” And another

line “Our culture founded from oppression”. This is groundbreaking for anyone challenging the

borderlands of straight/gay, it shows how we claim strength and power yet are chained to an

outdated and broken system. This song helps break the chains, especially because it is such a

catchy song from a very well-known artist, which means it can get streamed into popular media.

This is the kind of raw and empowering content needed across pop culture platforms that is

spread and absorbed by vulnerable youth. “And I can’t change, even if I tried. Even if I wanted

to. Love is patient, love is kind.”

There, There, Tommy Orange

“I feel like, for Native writers, there's a kind of burden to catch the general reader up
with what really happened, because history has got it so wrong and still continues to.
It feels like you want to get everybody on the same page as where your voice is
coming from, and your experience; but at the same time, you're not writing for the
general reader.” -Tommy Orange

Tommy Orange grew up in Oakland, California and is an enrolled member of the

Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He attended and graduated from the MFA program

at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he is currently

employed and teaches writing. He lives in California with his wife and children. Orange’s Novel,

There, There, has won multiple awards.

His novel “There, there”, uses culture, patriarchy, erasure, and symbolism to show the

deep-rooted issues of multiple systems in our society. Especially with his characters Orvil and

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his great aunt Opal. Opal hides their culture from her great-nephews who she is raising because

she knows the hurt and the trap that it can spiral them into. This is important in erasure of

identity because instead of passing on her culture, Orvil has to learn to find it himself. This also

comes into play with another character Edwin Black who is a hybrid, half white from his mother

and half Native American from his father who he does not find until his early twenties. He wants

to find his identity, as he has had quite the self-esteem issues as of recent.

Another quite interesting twist would be Tony, who has alcohol fetal syndrome. This ties

into disability theory, because to tony he has learned to live with his impairments. It is when he

goes out into society and people stare at him, taunt him, and overall the medical model concept

that ties in here. Because he has deformities to his face, he is visibly disabled. Another character,

Blue, has a tie to feminism and critical race theory. For she was raised with many opportunities

that the other characters simply did not have. She chose to run away, find where she came from,

and unfortunately ended up in an abusive marriage that she later had to run from.

The main point of including this novel is for the sole purpose of learning the truth about

the treatment of Native Americans in the past, present, and stopping it for the future. Orange

does a prologue and interlude that gives historical facts and timelines that would more than likely

shock most readers that received their history education in the white power controlled west. This

is crucial to understanding the impact the novel has as a whole, because we can see just how

hidden the truth is. The mass shooting at the Big Oakland Powwow can be connected to any

number of massacres bestowed upon the innocent Native Americans by the white settlers.

Orange is very graphic in last thoughts, sounds, and other symbolisms that after reading the

historical events listed in his prologue and interlude you cannot help but picture what actually

happened on the very soil we live and walk on today, yet many of us have no idea.

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Disability Theory, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson

“Disability is a particularly porous category in the sense that anyone can

move into this category, literally, in a minute and everyone, if they live long
enough, will move into this category.”

-Rosemarie Garland-Thomson

Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is a teacher, humanities scholar, bioethicist, culture thought

and disability justice leader. She attended the University of Nevada and majored in English and

earned her Ph.D. as well from Brandeis University in Boston. She is a bioethics and professor of

English at Emory University where she teaches feminist theory, critical disability studies,

American literature and culture, and bioethics. She has an inaugural article in the weekly

ongoing series in New York Times about those living with disabilities.

Disability theory is extremely important in the borderland of ability/disability. To

understand the base of it, we must understand the difference between disability and impairment.

Impairment is on the inside; disability is from society. Someone that has an impairment has set

up their home life to accommodate their needs and it is no longer a trial to overcome versus

trying to go somewhere in public and they run into stairs when they need a ramp. Next is the

medical model. Normal body function and anatomy is set by the medical community, again

powerful people, and they define what is healthy, beautiful, and fit. Anything outside of the

needs to be "cured" and "fixed”.

Garland-Thomson mentions that through feminism and the study of women and their

culture it opened up thoughts of what it meant to be a disabled person in the world. She started to

apply the work she had done to people with disabilities and their everyday challenges. She

emphasizes that the Disability Study Initiative does more than allow students to earn a degree in

22
Disability Studies, but to gain and understanding of disability and how it works in society,

culture, and relationships. A fascinating characteristic of Disability Theory is that you can be

move into this category either unexpectedly or just by living long enough. It is crucial that

society learns to embrace and apply because it really has benefits for everyone.

Queer Theory, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

“That's one of the things that "queer" can refer to: the open mesh of
possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of
meaning when the constituent elements of anyone's gender, of anyone's sexuality
aren't made (or can't be made) to signify monolithically.”
― Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick grew up in Bethesda, Maryland in a home with open

communication lines about sex and gender, she refers to it as a lucky childhood. She attended

Cornell and graduate school at Yale. Sedgwick developed groundbreaking work for Queer

Theory alongside Judith Butler. She taught at multiple universities including Yale and as a

professor of English at Duke University. She was married to her husband for forty years before

passing away from breast cancer.

Queer theory is about demolishing the traditional terms of “homosexual” and

“heterosexual”, it erases the borderland of male/female. It is to say that sexuality is a continuum,

some prefer same sex partners while other prefer both or neither. With the rise of cultural theory,

comes the rise of queer theory. This is because terms such as homosexual and heterosexual are

societal inventions, just as patriarchy and gender roles are societal inventions.

Sedgwick had to battle comments about queer theory removing responsibility and that the

whole notion of gender is wrong. What she said in response is crucial to destroying the

male/female borderland, “There is an ethical urgency about queer theory that is directed at the

23
damage that sexual prohibitions and discriminations do to people.'' Back to unerasing identities,

queer theory focuses on people having interests, hobbies, relationships according to how they

feel naturally instead of being given a list of what to feel based on their gender identification or

life partner preference.

Nature Poem, Tommy Pico

“There is a kind of power in being reviled for just *being*”

― Tommy Pico, IRL

Tommy Pico is from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation. He has

received numerous fellowships and awards from places such as the New York Foundation for the

Arts, Lambda Literary, and the Brooklyn Public Library. Pico refers to formal education as a

love/hate relationship for him, for he dropped out of medical school and returned to poetry. He

has always turned to poetry or writing lyrics as an outlet.

Pico uses queer theory, and culture studies in this very eccentric collection of poetry. He

also touches base on the stereotypes of Native Americans and their connection to nature. In one

of the poems he lists brand slogans and lyrics from popular streamed songs. This again ties back

to culture studies and how media uses food, beauty, and media to designate and determine the

likes and dislikes of vulnerable people.

Biohack Manifesto, Jillian Weise

“I read a lot of bad poems where the poet got bored, or lost, and plopped a disabled
figure or metaphor into the poem. If poetry can do anything, and I believe it can, then

24
 why was poetry only doing the same thing, over and over, in regard to disability?” -
Jillian Weise

Weise was born in Houston, Texas. She is a disability rights activist, poet, and

performing artist. She studied at Florida State University, University of North Carolina at

Greensboro, and the University of Cincinnati. She has written three collections of poetry, and a

novel all challenging the outlook on those with disabilities and the unfairness of the borderland

able/disable.

In her poem, Biohack Manifesto she challenges the idea of testing unborn babies for

disabilities, because they will fail and ultimately could be aborted because of this result. This is

crucial to disability theory because humanity is labeling an unlived life before given a chance to

prove “worth” if you will. With the medical model concept of disability theory this is especially

important. For as explained previously the medical model is designed by powerful people to

design a mold for what the perfect body is. Abortion of babies while in the womb due to positive

tests for abnormalities is erasing their identity before they have a chance to discover it. She also

touches subjects such as insurance payments in this article. She mentions how is she had served

the military, they would’ve paid. This again goes to show that there are more respected and

highlighted areas of disablement when it should be fairness across the board when it comes to

payment for prosthetics, because being born without a leg should not determine whether or not

your insurance pays for a prosthetic one to improve your quality of life that is determined by

society and disability characteristics.

25
26
 Work Cited:
“A Q&A With Tommy Orange, Author of June's #1 Indie Next List Pick.” The American
Booksellers Association, 23 May 2018, www.bookweb.org/news/qa-tommy-orange-author-
junes-1-indie-next-list-pick-104530.

“About.” Rupi Kaur, rupikaur.com/about/.

“About.” Julie Azzam, PhD, 22 Feb. 2018, julieazzam.com/about-2/.

Alexander, Kerri Lee. “Sandra Cisneros.” National Women's History Museum,

www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sandra-cisneros.

“Biography.” Carmen Maria Machado, carmenmariamachado.com/biography.

“Biography Page.” UCLA School of Law, law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/kimberle-w-

crenshaw/.

Carlin, Shannon. “Meet Rupi Kaur, Queen of the 'Instapoets'.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 25
June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/meet-rupi-kaur-queen-of-the-
instapoets-129262/.

“Chris Arnold Speaks on Documentary Film: Trans.” Random Lengths News, 16 Sept. 2013,
www.randomlengthsnews.com/2013/08/13/4677/.

Erdrich, L. (n.d.). Windigo by Louise Erdrich. Retrieved from

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43086/windigo

Epiphany Magazine. “A Conversation with Jillian Weise, Author of The Amputee's Guide to
Sex.” Epiphany Magazine, Epiphany Magazine, 27 Sept. 2017,
epiphanyzine.com/features/jillian-weise.

Feder-Haugabook, Ayala. “Kimberle Williams Crenshaw (1959- ).” Welcome to Blackpast •, 9

Sept. 2019, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/crenshaw-kimberle-williams-1959/.

Fischer, Molly. “The Instagram Poet Outselling Homer Ten to One.” The Cut, The Cut, 3 Oct.
2017, www.thecut.com/2017/10/profile-rupi-kaur-author-of-milk-and-honey.html.

Fornés, Maria Irene. “Fefu and Her Friends Summary.” SuperSummary,

www.supersummary.com/fefu-and-her-friends/summary/.

“Jeffrey Jerome Cohen.” About, jeffreyjeromecohen.com/.

Jeffries, David. “Macklemore: Biography & History.” AllMusic,

www.allmusic.com/artist/macklemore-mn0001015772/biography.

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Kim, Richard. “Richard Kim.” The Nation, 11 June 2015, www.thenation.com/authors/richard-
kim/.

Kim, Richard. “Against 'Bullying' or On Loving Queer Kids.” The Nation, 29 June 2015,
www.thenation.com/article/archive/against-bullying-or-loving-queer-kids/.

“Louise Erdrich.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/louise-

erdrich.
Machado, Carmen Maria. Her Body and Other Parties: Stories. Graywolf, 2017.

“Maria Irene Fornes.” Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/topics/maria-irene-fornes.

Orange, Tommy. There There. Emblem Editions, 2020.

Pico, Tommy. Nature Poem. Tin House Books. 2017.

Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, poets.org/poet/jillian-weise

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Purdue Writing Lab. “Critical Disability Studies // Purdue Writing Lab.” Purdue Writing Lab,
owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of
_criticism/critical_disability_studies.html.

“QUOTES BY MARIA IRENE FORNES: A-Z Quotes.” A, www.azquotes.com/author/50184-

Maria_Irene_Fornes.

RubyBrunton. “Interview with Tommy Pico.” Mask Magazine, www.maskmagazine.com/the-

dropout-issue/work/tommy-pico.

Shmoop Editorial Team. “Feminist Theory Buzzwords.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov.
2008, www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-schools-of-theory/feminist-theory/buzzwords.

Shmoop Editorial Team. “New Historicism Buzzwords.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov.
2008, www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-schools-of-theory/new-historicism/buzzwords.

Smith, Dinitia. “'Queer Theory' Is Entering The Literary Mainstream.” The New York Times, The
New York Times, 17 Jan. 1998, www.nytimes.com/1998/01/17/books/queer-theory-is-entering-
the-literary-mainstream.html.

The Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Website, www.cerep.ulg.ac.be/adichie/cnabio.html.

“Tommy Pico.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/tommy-

pico.

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Weise, Jillian Marie. Cyborg Detective: Poems. BOA Editions, Ltd., 2019.

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Wheel, Emory. “Understanding Disabilities Studies: One Professor's Story.” The Emory Wheel, 6
Oct. 2014, emorywheel.com/understanding-disabilities-studies-one-professors-story/.

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