Sapphic desire in the Margins: Queer Diaspora in Contemporary Irish Literature

• Grant number: 24/01104-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Languages
• Principal Investigator: Laura Patricia Zuntini de Izarra
• Grantee: Esther Gazzola Borges
• Supervisor: Moynagh Jane Edith Sullivan
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUI Maynooth), Ireland
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/04123-9 - Sapphic desire in the margins: queer diaspora in Irish contemporary literature, BP.DR

Abstract

The present proposal is part of the research project titled 'Sapphic desire in the Margins: Queer Diaspora in Contemporary Irish Literature,' which intersects literature with diaspora studies, sexuality, and race. The dissertation uses the novels The Henna Wars and Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by author Adiba Jaigirdar as objects of study, employing the theoretical perspective of Queer Diaspora as presented by Anne Marie Fortier, defining it as the "the condition of exile and estrangement experienced by queer subjects, which locates them outside the confines of 'home': the heterosexual family, the nation, the homeland.". Throughout the research development, the analysis revealed that the marginalizations of the characters are formulated through the intersection of their sexuality, religion, and racialization. This leads them to face hostility not solely due to their belonging to certain identity groups but particularly because they belong to identity groups seen as opposites, resulting in the development of the term 'Multiple Identitary DisPlacements' (MIDP).The current project aims to develop the third part of the doctoral dissertation, which aims to analyse the selected books as the object of study, in conjunction with the necessary theory for the developed themes. The analysis will be divided into the three most important axes of the relationships of the main characters. Chapter 3.1 will focus on the characters' family relationships and the contrast between them, issues of collective intergenerational memory and trauma, and the characters' positioning in relation to the concept of 'coming out.' 3.2 focuses on the characters' relationships with their non-family social circles, mostly composed of white Irish people, and the reception of Irish society towards them. Chapter 3.3 focuses on the characters' relationships with each other (Hani x Ishu and Nishat x Flávia), the parallels and community formations in this sense of not belonging, parallels between the relationships and the characters from different novels among themselves. The research period at Maynooth University will focus on analysing how these representations are constructed and understood by the characters at a narrative and linguistic level, with the assistance of colloquiums and texts written by Profa. Moynagh Sullivan.