Spatializing Gender Performativity: Ecstasy and Possibilities for Livable Life in the Tragic Case of Victoria Arellano

Abstract

This essay argues that spaces where we become ecstatic produce possibilities for subversive performativity. To illustrate, I analyze the case of Victoria Arellano, a transgender HIV positive migrant who died while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and the subversive gendered responses other detainees consequently enacted. This case study not only demonstrates how performativity codifies norms in ways that literally prevent survival, but it also highlights the necessity of considering space and ecstasy to understand the subversive potential of gender performativity.

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