California State University, San Bernardino CSUSB ScholarWorks Theses Digitization Project John M. Pfau Library 2006 Cultivating dissent: Queer zines and the active subject Angela Connie Asbell Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project Part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons Recommended Citation Asbell, Angela Connie, "Cultivating dissent: Queer zines and the active subject" (2006). Theses Digitization Project. 3003. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3003 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the John M. Pfau Library at CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses Digitization Project by an authorized administrator of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. CULTIVATING DISSENT: QUEER ZINES AND THE ACTIVE SUBJECT A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Master of Arts in English Composition by Angela Connie Asbell September 2006 CULTIVATING DISSENT: QUEER ZINES AND THE ACTIVE SUBJECT A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino by Angela Connie Asbell September 2006 Approved by: Date Rong Then ABSTRACT This study performs a rhetorical analysis of several zines that deal with gender and sexual identity. Zines are self-published, non-commercial magazines that highlight the individual creativity in writing and the participatory aspects to writing, publishing, and distributing texts. The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethic is the centerpiece of political self- motivation and connection to other activists through non-hierarchical media forms. Through the employment of a subversive rhetoric blending pastiche, performativity, and moments of strategic essentialism, zinesters create meaning, through the disruption of meaning.