Queer Genealogies in Dominican Literature and Culture

Tracing cultural representations of queerness in the

Dominican Republic from the 1950s to the present



In this book, Maja

Horn examines the evolution of queer Dominican literary and cultural production

from the 1950s to the present, challenging simplistic developmental narratives

of LGBTIQ+ progress. Through an analysis of literature, theater, and activism, Horn

traces how same-sex desire and gender nonconformity have been negotiated both

tacitly and overtly across the years.



Beginning with

early forerunners, Horn looks at literary representations in works by Hilma

Contreras and Pedro Ren? Cont?n Aybar during the 1930-1961 dictatorship of

Rafael Trujillo. Horn goes on to explore the emergence of queer nightlife

spaces during the Balaguer years through novels by Rita Indiana Hern?ndez and

Rey Emmanuel And?jar. Horn discusses how the work of playwright Waddys J?quez challenges

reductive mainstream representations of trans subjects and HIV/AIDS in the new

democratic era. The book concludes with a discussion of groundbreaking recent

texts that have expanded portrayals beyond Santo Domingo and introduced new

perspectives.



Throughout Queer

Genealogies in Dominican Literature and Culture, Horn shows how class,

race, and gender have shaped access to public space and strategies for

negotiating sexuality. Horn also reveals the coexistence of different ways of

expressing queer identities. Recognizing the influence of coloniality and

narratives of identity in the global North, Horn celebrates the shifting

geographies and multiplicities of a uniquely creole Dominican queerness.