Alexei Lanigan L&S Arts & Humanities
Queer Resistance To Colonialism in "The Life to Come" and Babel
This project identifies and explores queerness as resistance to colonialism in the story “The Life to Come” by 20th century British writer E.M. Forster and the novel Babel by 21st century Chinese-American writer R.F. Kuang by tracing how queer resistance to colonialism has developed between the texts. Grounded in the idea of queerness as antithetical to colonialism, this project explores and contrasts the two portrayals of queerness as unable to fully exist within Empire and thus demanding its destruction to survive. This project will explore the effects of colonialism on not just the people themselves, but the very idea of queer love between colonial subjects. I aim to argue that these texts provide the current reality for queer relationships in a world so influenced by colonialism, as a basis for why we must completely free ourselves of Empire in order to truly be queer. I plan to build on the existing scholarship by placing the texts in conversation with one another to explore how viewing queerness as oppositional to colonialism can help us move forward to a freer decolonial queer future where we can truly love one another, which is necessary for the survival of queerness.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you for funding my research. As an openly queer English researcher, I have a lot of interest in queer literary analysis, especially ones that discuss the possibilities for a future of queerness. It is so important to take stories that have a lot of darkness, and find some kind of hope, especially for queer stories. It is also important to analyze queer literature through an intersectional perspective, which is why I am discussing queerness and colonialism together.