Nonbinary BIPOC College Students’ Joy and Euphoria

• In Event: Joy and Aliveness: Perspectives on Queer and Trans Wellness in Higher Education

Abstract

In this arts-based, hermeneutic (van Manen, 2016) critical (Weiss et al., 2020), and queer (Ahmed, 2006) phenomenological study (N = 13), I met with nonbinary BIPOC college students for three data collection points to explore nonbinary BIPOC joy and euphoria. Co-researchers defined and described joy in multiple ways, including connecting with their communities and looking to their ancestral lineages or Indigenous two spirit people and practices. Similarly, queer and trans history gave co-researchers a sense of joy, euphoroa and empowerment. Together, findings portray nonbinary BIPOC joy and euphoria as portals to bringing utopia into the here and now. Using euphoria and joy as asset-based frames, educational leaders and researchers can transform higher education to be liberatory for nonbinary BIPOC students.

Author

• C. V. Dolan, University of Vermont