2026

Using interviews as its backbone, “Butch-ered” explores the butch identity across two varying different locations: Knoxville, Tennessee and New York, New York. This project is three stages: a web archive, a publication, and community events. The interactive archive is a space where users can explore the locations while talking to the interviewed subjects in a choose-your-own adventure mechanism. Combining oral history, participatory design, and interactive media, “Butch-ered” culminates to create a multi-format archive. Though this work, "Butch-ered" investigates how the butch identity changes depending on access to technology, community, political surroundings, and geography. “Butch-ered” sits at the intersection of Southern queer studies, community formation, and anthropological research.