Bio:
Joel Sedano (they/them) is a queer, disabled, trans non-binary poet. They are of Mexican and Purépecha descent. Joel has a B.A. in English and Gender & Women’s Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.F.A. in Writing: Poetry from Columbia University and M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University. They are a first-year PhD student in the Theatre & Performance program at The Graduate Center, City University of New York.
Their poetry has been featured in several publications including most recently in Pan(*)cha Zine’s “Macho” issue. Joel debuted their short film Post-Prismatic at the 2020 Queer Women of Color Film Festival. They are also a landscape photographer with works published in Lux the Zine and WerkHaus Zine. In their spare time, Joel is a beader, painter, an Auntie-in-Training, and a student of the Purépecha language.
Joel is co-Executive Director of the non-profit Urban Reziliency. UR continues building communal support that incorporates cultural, social, and medical practices that ease the houselessness crisis affecting at-risk 2SLGBTQ+, Black and Indigenous youth, and domestic violence survivors.
Their research explores the (re)presentations of colonial environmental degradation and the sanitization of ‘wild(er)ness’ in depictions of nature. Their focus is on the performance art, music, and poetry of contemporary Indigiqueer and queer Black artists. Joel’s work investigates how colonialism has constructed race, gender, sexuality, and the environment, and how Indigenous and Black artists create virtual counterpublics in response to environmental policies and laws. Through an interdisciplinary approach that includes performance as research, beading, orature, and Indigenous and Black feminist epistemologies, they examine how these artists maintain and reclaim their relationships with space and place, subverting colonial land management tactics and the imposition of wild(er)ness.
Research Interests:
- Poetry & Poetics
- Queer of Color
- Critique
- Human Geography
- Trans* Studies
- Black Feminism
- Indigenous Feminism
- Horror & Sci-Fi
- Environmental Humanities
- Policy and Legal Studies
Instagram:
