- San Francisco, California
Solana Willis
San Francisco State University, Sexuality Studies, Graduate Student
- University of California, San Diego, Critical Gender Studies, Undergraduateadd
- Gender and Sexuality, Queer Studies, Queer Theory, Gender Studies, Sex and Gender, Women and Gender Studies, Critical Race Theory, Women's Studies, Media Studies, Cinema and Television, and 7 morePopular Culture, Speculative Fiction, LGBT Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Social Media, and Pop Cultureedit
- Master of Sexuality and Star Trek, analyzing for race, gender, sexuality, and queerness across pop culture. Currently working as a writer in San Francisco.edit
Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) imagined a future in which all humans belonged to a homogenized, Western dominated, Neoliberal fantasy that no longer needed to address the political histories or identity politics of its past. TNG’s... more
Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) imagined a future in which all humans belonged to a homogenized, Western dominated, Neoliberal fantasy that no longer needed to address the political histories or identity politics of its past. TNG’s Starship Enterprise-D set out on an imperialist assimilation project that positioned the Federation—imagined as white, heteronormative humans and properly assimilated “aliens”—against queer, undesirable and dangerous, alien societies. In a close reading of the stories, characters, and societies explored by the Enterprise, I problematize and denaturalize these assumptions around identity and desire? I ask, how can Star Trek’s own allegorical lens be reapplied to queer the dominant narratives within Star Trek and to imagine human futures that support queer futurity?
