Queer performance and activism in Cuba: strategies for resisting exclusionary dynamics in feminist spaces

This research examines the potential of art, activism, and scholarship to challenge the perpetuation of discriminatory patterns within feminist movements by studying, among other works, the performances of queer feminist hip hop duo from Cuba, Krudxs Cubensi. It takes a multimodal approach, including interview data as well as my lived experience of fieldwork to examine how the exclusionary dynamics addressed in Lxs Krudxs’ work are challenged by others working on the same issues. This thesis challenges the hierarchization of knowledge perpetuated by the academy by valuing knowledges that are gained by doing. 2020, when the project began, marked the start of a renewed global rollback on the rights of queer people, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic (Reid, 2021). My research is moved by these injustices to find out why movements that claim to address patriarchal oppression instead perpetuate the same phenomenon. This thesis asks how we can create more inclusive feminist spaces, in a context where some feminisms entrench exclusionary relationalities, such as transphobia and racism. This question is grounded in the Cuban context and uses the work of Krudxs Cubensi as a point of departure, arguing that members Odaymar Cuesta and Oliver Prendes challenge exclusions within feminisms with their ‘fierce feminist hip hop and Afro-Cuban flavours’ (Krudas Cubensi, 2013). I contend that performance art can resist a cultural and political climate that is increasingly hostile to marginalised people and offer an alternative framework for navigating oppressive systems.

Grantor dc:publisher

University College Cork

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Geraghty, Clare

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Broderick, Céire
• Garrido Castellano, Carlos

• Queer
• Performance
• Feminism
• Cuba
• Activism
• Gender

Statement dc:rights

• © 2024, Clare Geraghty.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10468/17526

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:cora.ucc.ie:10468/17526