This Might Be My First Rodeo: The Challenges of Depicting Queer Rural Identity
Location
Ponderosa Room A
Presentation Type
Presentation
Presentation Topic
Women's and Gender Studies, Queer Studies, Film
Start Date
6-3-2026 10:10 AM
Event Sort Order
1
Abstract
This presentation is based on my honors thesis, described below:
My project, "Small Town Pretty: Driving Down the Backroads of Rural Identity and Queer Femininity" will have two primary components: a series of visual essays and a documentary film. By combining my interests in fashion photography, women's and gender studies, storytelling, and documentaries, I intend to uplift the voices of under and mis-represented women and queer people in rural settings.
This presentation will specifically look into the challenges that I have faced in completing this project, framing these challenges within the principles of Feminist Rhetoric. The difficulties I faced in the development of this project led me to pilot a new framework of gendered aspects of Intimate Partner Violence which moves away from the centrality of cisgender, perisex assumptions.
This Might Be My First Rodeo: The Challenges of Depicting Queer Rural Identity
Ponderosa Room A
This presentation is based on my honors thesis, described below:
My project, "Small Town Pretty: Driving Down the Backroads of Rural Identity and Queer Femininity" will have two primary components: a series of visual essays and a documentary film. By combining my interests in fashion photography, women's and gender studies, storytelling, and documentaries, I intend to uplift the voices of under and mis-represented women and queer people in rural settings.
This presentation will specifically look into the challenges that I have faced in completing this project, framing these challenges within the principles of Feminist Rhetoric. The difficulties I faced in the development of this project led me to pilot a new framework of gendered aspects of Intimate Partner Violence which moves away from the centrality of cisgender, perisex assumptions.
Presenter Bio
Shelby March is an undergraduate student in her final year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, majoring in English with a minor in Women's and Gender Studies. She is an intersex, polyamorous, disabled lesbian and survivor of domestic violence who realized she needed to stop cutting those experiences out of her academic work. She enjoys writing, cooking, and (maybe) biting off more than she can chew.