To Belong Here: A New Generation of Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian Writers

Appalachia has long been flattened into a white, Christian, and conservative place. While many Appalachians embrace those labels, they fail to acknowledge the presence of communities of color and of queer, trans, and Two-Spirit people across the region. Religious fundamentalism, white supremacy, homophobia, and transphobia continue to oppress queer and gender-expansive Appalachians, especially Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. These realities have adversely affected queer and trans folks' ability to claim their rightful places within the region.
 
To Belong Here delves into how queer, trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian people make sense of life in the mountains. Featuring contributors whose identities across race, gender, and socioeconomic background make for a uniquely intersectional look at the area, this collection provides a nuanced understanding of Appalachia and what it means to represent it. Themes of erasure, environmentalism, violence, kinship, racism, Indigeneity, queer love, and trans liberation course through the volume and exemplify the writers' resilience in reconciling their complex and often contradictory connections to home.

A collective exploration of rejection and acceptance, To Belong Here calls for a more inclusive future in Appalachia—one where everyone can thrive.

1145608869
To Belong Here: A New Generation of Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian Writers

Appalachia has long been flattened into a white, Christian, and conservative place. While many Appalachians embrace those labels, they fail to acknowledge the presence of communities of color and of queer, trans, and Two-Spirit people across the region. Religious fundamentalism, white supremacy, homophobia, and transphobia continue to oppress queer and gender-expansive Appalachians, especially Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. These realities have adversely affected queer and trans folks' ability to claim their rightful places within the region.
 
To Belong Here delves into how queer, trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian people make sense of life in the mountains. Featuring contributors whose identities across race, gender, and socioeconomic background make for a uniquely intersectional look at the area, this collection provides a nuanced understanding of Appalachia and what it means to represent it. Themes of erasure, environmentalism, violence, kinship, racism, Indigeneity, queer love, and trans liberation course through the volume and exemplify the writers' resilience in reconciling their complex and often contradictory connections to home.

A collective exploration of rejection and acceptance, To Belong Here calls for a more inclusive future in Appalachia—one where everyone can thrive.

27.95 In Stock
To Belong Here: A New Generation of Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian Writers

To Belong Here: A New Generation of Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian Writers

To Belong Here: A New Generation of Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian Writers

To Belong Here: A New Generation of Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian Writers

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Overview

Appalachia has long been flattened into a white, Christian, and conservative place. While many Appalachians embrace those labels, they fail to acknowledge the presence of communities of color and of queer, trans, and Two-Spirit people across the region. Religious fundamentalism, white supremacy, homophobia, and transphobia continue to oppress queer and gender-expansive Appalachians, especially Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. These realities have adversely affected queer and trans folks' ability to claim their rightful places within the region.
 
To Belong Here delves into how queer, trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian people make sense of life in the mountains. Featuring contributors whose identities across race, gender, and socioeconomic background make for a uniquely intersectional look at the area, this collection provides a nuanced understanding of Appalachia and what it means to represent it. Themes of erasure, environmentalism, violence, kinship, racism, Indigeneity, queer love, and trans liberation course through the volume and exemplify the writers' resilience in reconciling their complex and often contradictory connections to home.

A collective exploration of rejection and acceptance, To Belong Here calls for a more inclusive future in Appalachia—one where everyone can thrive.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781985901841
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Publication date: 04/01/2025
Series: Appalachian Futures: Black, Native, and Queer Voices
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 112
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Rae Garringer is a writer, oral historian, and audio producer living on S'atsoyaha (Yuchi) and Šaawanwaki (Shawnee) lands in southeastern West Virginia where they were raised. They are the founder of the multimedia oral history project and podcast Country Queers, and the author of Country Queers: A Love Letter.


Rae Garringer is a writer, oral historian, and audio producer living on S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and Šaawanwaki (Shawnee) lands in southeastern West Virginia where they were raised. They are the founder of the multimedia oral history project and podcast Country Queers, and the author of Country Queers: A Love Letter.

Table of Contents

Foreword, by Carter Sickels
Preface, by Rae Garringer
Sanctuary, by Joy Cedar
What You Should Know Before You Kill Me, by Brandon Sun Eagle Jent
They Say All Kinds Are Welcome Here, by Rayna Momen
Where Are You From?, by Lucien Darjeun Meadows
School Eraser, by Joy Cedar
Volver, Volver, by hermelinda cortés
Growing Up Black in Appalachia, by Rayna Momen
To Repel Ghosts, by Joe Tolbert Jr.
Copperhead, by Joy Cedar
Proximity, by Rae Garringer
Circles/Dances, by Brandon Sun Eagle Jent
Dear West Virginia, by Rayna Momen
What Anchors You Here, by Jai Arun Ravine
Kentucky Waltz, by Brandon Sun Eagle Jent
A Queer Place Called Home, by G. Samantha Rosenthal
An Inheritance, by Lauren Garretson-Atkinson
4 lil poems for 4 big feelins, by Pumpkin Starr
Prayers to a Greater Belonging, by D. Stump
this world loves me too, by Brandon Sun Eagle Jent
Acknowledgments
Contributors

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