“No Longer Interested in Convincing You of My Humanity”: Undocuqueer Countervisualities Reclaim the Right to Exist

Abstract

By examining the images that Undocuqueer activists circulate in online spaces, this study explores how activists rely on visual expression to reveal and reframe the complex forces that shape Undocuqueer life in the United States. Undocuqueer visual communications expose (1) the in-betweenness that defines the Undocuqueer experience, (2) the expanding transnational intersectional coalitions at the foundation of the movement, and (3) a reconceptualization of Undocuqueer worth that is independent from the economic contributions of the community. These countervisualities reclaim what Mirzoeff called the community's right to look and demonstrate alternative forms of self and community that could be more conducive to social transformation and justice.

Notes

¹ The DREAM Act is narrowly tailored bill that would allow eligible undocumented youth who attended college or joined the military to legalize their status in the United States (Schwiertz, 2016).

² Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, announced in 2012, provides temporary protection from deportation to undocumented youth who came to the United States as children.

³ SB4 stands for the Texas Senate Bill 4, whose provisions were blocked by a federal judge back in September 2017. Had the bill gone into effect, it would have compelled every law enforcement officer in the state to serve on Trump's deportation force (Burke, 2017).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ayleen Cabas-Mijares

Dr. Ayleen Cabas-Mijares is an assistant professor of journalism and media studies at Marquette University. Her research interests focus on the critical examination of the role of media in social change, specifically the role of media in the constitution and politics of social movements.E-mail: [email protected]

Rachel Grant

Dr. Rachel Grant is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Florida. Her academic research looks at media studies of race, gender, and class and she has conducted extensive research about social movements, social justice, and Black feminism.