Abstract

The mixed-media artwork “Rooted and Resilient” pairs with the autoethnographic narrative to examine queer identity formation in the rural U.S. South. The artwork visualizes a life split between coercive conformity and chosen belonging: a blue, nonbinary figure braces between a frayed rope of church, family, and school expectations and a vibrant colorful braided rope of community and self-embrace. A barren field that demands “conform” and vibrant terrain that invites “embrace” encode a pull from survival to flourishing. The narrative grounds these symbols in fundamentalist religiosity, familial control, and school climate, while tracing countercurrents—rural gender “wiggle room,” clandestine literacies, and quiet peer solidarities. Together, image and text articulate how small acts, such as notes in lockers, shared books, and coded friendships, become a praxis of belonging that enables letting go of the ties that bind rigid rural traditions and stepping into chosen family and open selfhood. By rendering interior struggle and communal repair in accessible visual-narrative form, the work offers a lens for educators, counselors, rural advocates, and rural queer and trans youth and adults to recognize normative violence and to cultivate conditions where queer and trans youth can move from isolation toward collective resilience.

How to Cite:

Wallace, A., (2025) “Rooted and Resilient: A Queer Identity Journey in the Rural South”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 41(6), 1–4. doi: https://doi.org/10.26209/JRRE4106-03

Rights: Copyright