ATTN: Queer Undocumented Immigrants

This is a shameless plug for a queer undocumented friend of mine who is doing research on queer immigrants and sentiments of belonging. I hope that everyone can take the time to participate and support Marco in his endeavor because he is one of us.

Mi nombre es marco antonio flores. I am currently an Undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley working with Professor Mel Chen and Evelyn Nakano Glenn, in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies.

I have been offered to take part in a research program that has enabled me to attain funding for undergraduate research with self-identified queer undocumented immigrants. By drawing from personal narratives I hope to engage my piece, with how queer undocumented immigrants experience home – exploring a theoretical framework that allows for the body as a site of home. This work concerns how queer undocumented immigrants come to experience their undocumented status in relation to their queer identity.

I would like to invite anyone who is interested.

Through this piece, I hope to engage in discussing experiences of displacement and (be)longing by conducing one-on-one interviews with queer undocumented immigrants. It is important for me to share that all the information I am given by those interested in being part of this project will be kept confidential.

For those who are interested in participating, please feel free to contact me via email at marcoflores06@gmail.com. In return for your time, I will be able to provide a $20.00 gift card for a place of your choice.

In addition, here’s this — http://sentimentsofbelonging.tumblr.com/

Please take the time out to get in touch with Marco for his research project. As a queer-identifying undocumented immigrant, I feel like we are a hot commodity, especially in the academic world. Academics, artists and film-makers are salivating over us and trying to gain access to our communities. And most of the time, they characterize us erroneously. It thoroughly annoys me because we have our own academics and intellectuals who are confined in limbo but who could also do a better job of writing about us. We don’t need a “We Are Americans” or a “Papers” because we can research, write and produce our own work. Besides, it is glaringly erroneous: not all undocumented immigrants identify as “American” and not all undocumented immigrants are without papers.

I would much rather support and elevate individuals who are part of our communities and don’t try to fit our bodies in particular categories and their own notions of how and where we belong.