Cosmic Beavers

Queer Counter-Mythologies Through Speculative Songwriting

Bibliographic Data

ID3774259
AuthorsE Truman (0000-0002-1466-8859), Sarah E Truman, D B Shannon (0000-0001-7642-0667), Kathryn Yusoff
Year2023
Volume28
Issue6
Pages84-96
Publication date2023-11-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAngelaki (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0969-725X • E-ISSN: 1469-2899
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0969725x.2023.2270357
OpenAlexW4388735589
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited23

In this article, the authors introduce the concept of a "queer counter-mythology." They do so by discussing a speculative song they wrote as an enactment of research-creation. Research-creation names an interdisciplinary scholarly praxis where artist-scholars create the artefacts they want to think-with, rather than analysing existing cultural productions. The song discussed in this article, "Cosmic Beavers," proposes a queer counter-mythology that reimagines the historical, colonial archive by foregrounding the stories of giant, trans-dimensional beavers who shred Lewis and Clark and use them to reinforce their Time-Dam. Drawing on this song, as well as queer theories of time and anti-colonial thinkers, the authors suggest that artistic interventions invoke speculative lures that, while not changing history, can complicate state-sanctioned archives and narratives of the past and future: they frame this intervention as a queer counter-mythology

Geography · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

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