H(a)unting Grounds: Exorcising the Queer Ghosts of Metronormativity

This essay examines the myth of metronormative safety through the metaphor of the hunting grounds, exploring how queer bodies navigate violence across rural and urban landscapes. First, the author lays out the theoretical frameworks of queer ruralism and metronormativity to analyze how violence against queer individuals is recorded and understood. Rather than treating the archive as a passive record, this method reanimates queer experiences, transforming them into active, embodied acts of remembrance.Second, the paper articulates the use of performative archival methods that challenge traditional, static approaches to documenting queer histories. Third, tracing these histories across geographic landscapes, this work reveals how violence often perceptually begins in rural spaces and shifts-sometimes intensifying, sometimes transforming-as queer individuals move to metropolitan areas. Finally, this work examines what remains of the queer self in these encounters with violence, considering the lasting effects of being both haunted and hunted. By intertwining these threads, this work challenges dominant narratives of queer identity, offering a more complex understanding of queer time, space, and survival.