Optimism and Disorder: Whiteness, Resistance, and Performance in The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Event Website
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DAVm7ZYcdKqzDZ68a9wHAQnupKk-wue3zSSEqh1tdm0/edit?usp=sharing
Start Date
11-12-2017 11:40 AM
Description
In this proposal, I request funding to travel to New York to amass an archive of data on The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an international order of queer nuns. Using this archive, I will put the practices and philosophies of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in conversation with the theoretical frameworks of existential philosophy, queer theory, and critical race theory to conceive a more nuanced (sociogenic) approach to conceptualizing the queer, aging subject. In keeping with its unique political practices and philosophies (a convergence of political optimism, indulgent pleasure, and critical interrogation), The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence consists in a complex network of performative family relations and countercultural rituals that open up new avenues for thinking critically about the emerging field of queer aging. As such, I examine The Sisters as a case study for thinking about the complex relations of power, desire, pleasure, race, and sexuality that position the queer aging subject. With the data generated during the grant period, I hope to append rigorous, empirical data into a primarily theoretical discussion, permitting a more focused examination of the queer aging subject as it is mobilized in extant gerontology and queer aging scholarship.
Click below to download individual papers.
Optimism and Disorder: Whiteness, Resistance, and Performance in The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
In this proposal, I request funding to travel to New York to amass an archive of data on The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an international order of queer nuns. Using this archive, I will put the practices and philosophies of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in conversation with the theoretical frameworks of existential philosophy, queer theory, and critical race theory to conceive a more nuanced (sociogenic) approach to conceptualizing the queer, aging subject. In keeping with its unique political practices and philosophies (a convergence of political optimism, indulgent pleasure, and critical interrogation), The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence consists in a complex network of performative family relations and countercultural rituals that open up new avenues for thinking critically about the emerging field of queer aging. As such, I examine The Sisters as a case study for thinking about the complex relations of power, desire, pleasure, race, and sexuality that position the queer aging subject. With the data generated during the grant period, I hope to append rigorous, empirical data into a primarily theoretical discussion, permitting a more focused examination of the queer aging subject as it is mobilized in extant gerontology and queer aging scholarship.
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/honors-research-and-exhibition/2017/section-02/14
Comments
Mairead Sullivan