Healing in the borderlands : a journey with translanguaging, Queering Yerevan and arts-based autoethnography

Abstract

This thesis was deeply inspired by border thinking and the work of Gloria Anzaldua. It is a personal journey of finding healing through interactions with three principal sources: the linguistic concept of translanguaging, the work of a queer Armenian collective, and autoethnographic ways of thinking, writing and being.

The author explores notions of fluidity and opacity in regards to identities as well as conceptions of language and communication. She does this through unpacking the complexity of her various identities and connecting this to literature, research and theory that question the false construct of static and monolithic identity. She also explores and questions the space in between language, semiotics and art.

Inspired by the concept of translanguaging and how it relates to the work of the collective Queering Yerevan, who use multilingualism and multimodality to question the heteropatriarchy of the Armenian state, the author uses both linguistics and art to create a zine that questions potentially harmful forms of normativity. Autoethnography is woven throughout, as the author connects personal experience to larger societal implication, narratives and myths.