The Narrative Identities of QueerPeople of Color : Interviews with Queer People of Color in Long Beach, CA

Abstract: Queer people and people of color are two groups that are exposed to much stereotyping and discrimination in the United States. When these two identity labels coincide they sometimes conflict. In this study, five queer persons of color were interviewed on their identities and their life stories, to find out how they create their identities through narratives, negotiating and rewriting the meanings of social categories. Using Johnson's Quare term as inspiration,and analyzing the data with the use of Riessman's performative narrative analysis and Muñoz's Disidentifications, I find several common tropes of identity creation and performance as well as practices of resistance and disidentification. I then discuss the word Queer as used by respondents to label practices and attitudes that can be considered disidentifying.