Project Title: ALL THE BELOVED I COULDN’T DESCRIBE: Queer-of-Color Illegibility and the 21st Century Crisis of Identity
Isabel Felix Gonzales, University of Virginia
Isabel Felix Gonzales is a Rising Scholars Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at the University of Virginia and a 2025 New City Arts Fellow. Their written and visual work explores the political, material, and popular cultures of the early 21st century. Isabel is particularly interested in how sexuality and gender identity function as important sites for consolidating and re-naturalizing racial capitalism in the aftermath of Obama-era multiculturalism and LGBTQ+ mainstreaming, but also the forms illegibility, unruliness, kin-making, escape, and refusal that queer, trans, and nonbinary people of color employ in response. Their work has been published in The Palgrave Handbook of Fashion and Politics, Terrorism and Popular Culture, and Politics, Groups, and Identities, and in community-run zine collections, including Mala Leche x Sound Justice Lab: Our Bodies, Our Futures and SWARM: Answering the Call. Isabel received a PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine and is currently working on their first book, ALL THE BELOVED I COULDN’T DESCRIBE: Queer Illegibility and 21st Century Crisis of Identity.
About the APSA Advancing Research Grants for Early Career Scholars
The APSA Diversity and Inclusion Advancing Research Grants are open to all to provide research support that examines political science phenomena affecting underserved communities and underrepresented groups. In July 2025, APSA awarded 11 projects for the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Advancing Research Grant for Early Career Scholars for a combined total award amount of $22,000.