Making Sense of a Sense of Self
Fabricating Authenticity - Jason W.M. Ellsworth
Israel L. Domínguez [+]
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Israel L. Domínguez is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A queer Tejano born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Gloria Anzaldúa’s work has always highly resonated with him and inspired his current research on curanderismo of the US-Mexico border and its intersections with decolonizing, disability theory, and queer theory.
Description
Furthering Smith’s analysis, Domínguez explores the complexity of indigenous identity and highlights the lack of historical records of many people in indigenous communities in the Américas. Drawing on Anzaldúa’s theory of nepantla, Domínguez argues that many identity categories—like those present in GATs—reify white, European colonial notions of authentic identity while delegitimizing racially-, culturally- and gender-fluid categories that don’t fit within the binary system.