What is furry? What is a fursona? Is furry queer? What does the fursona do for queer and trans people of color? Dr. Hazel Ali Zaman-Gonzalez will be sharing insights into these questions and more, through her ongoing research into furry using ethnographic and critical methods. Hosted with support from the Queer Approaches to Media Research Cluster.
Speaker bio: Hazel Ali Zaman-Gonzalez (she/her), is an assistant professor of social work at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Hazel's background is in child and youth care, early childhood education, elementary education, after-school education, queer and trans youth art and performance. Hazel’s current teaching and research includes queer and trans healthcare, trans identity expression, trans wellness, and social justice. In centering art and performance, her recent work centers furry art as a methodology for exploring queer and trans life. Her current work is based on an on-going phenomenological study that looks to queer and trans of color lived experience to explore the question: “what does the fursona (furry persona) do for queer and trans people of color?”