QUEER(ING) DECOLONIAL FEMINIST RHETORIC: SoVerano Boricua and Cuir Sentipensar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter conjoins queer studies and decolonial feminist rhetoric, focusing on scenes from the 2019 perreo combativo in front of the second oldest Catholic cathedral in the Caribbean, which occurred the night of then-governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló‘s resignation. During the perreo combativo protest scene, a group of people embodying diverse gender and sexual identities danced reggaetón together-a hypersexual and oftentimes heterosexist dance form. The SoVerano Boricua’s perreo combativo serves as a case study of how participants seized the typically misogynist genre of reggaetón to radicalize it as resistant performance. Focusing on this scene allows me to elaborate how cuir sentipensar has guided contemporary protest rhetoric in Puerto Rico. I define cuir sentipensar as a decolonial feminist rhetoric that embodies a liberated affect, body (politic), challenging colonial locations and logics. I argue that an affective impetus like queer thinking-feeling (cuir sentipenar) extends beyond struggles for survival and into demands for sovereignty and justice. The decolonial feminist rhetoric potential of cuir sentipensar, or queer thinking-feeling, during the SoVerano Boricua is an affective and embodied transgression to the white supremacist and heteronornative colonial state.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationThe Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminist Rhetoric
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages226-235
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781040261064
ISBN (Print)9781032513058
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2024

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Arts and Humanities
  • General Social Sciences

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