A Queer Romance - Queering the National Romance - LatinX Narratives of Belonging from The Squatter and the Don to Red, White, and Royal Blue

Aug 25, 2026

Preliminary study of LatinX literary, cinematic, and television narratives that place LatinX people within national discourse about “America” through romance tropes. Often turning toward fantasias, these works stage love between antagonistic forces—class, race/ethnicity, and nation—as allegory for a more healed polity. The article examines reconciliation-oriented utopian imaginings and frames romance as a political and affective mechanism for addressing colonial legacies and social rifts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

A Queer Romance: Queering the National Romance

Romance tropes and national belonging

Terms, scope, and key concepts (queer, LatinX, sexile, rom-pol)

Mexican-American rom-pol narratives of reconciliation

Foundational fictions and sentimentality as political voice

Richard D. Reitsma A Queer Romance, Queering the National Romance: LatinX Narratives of Belonging from The Squatter and the Don to Red, White, and Royal Blue DOI: 10. 7311/PJAS. 17/2024 .08 Abstract: This paper is a preliminary exploration of LatinX literary, cinematic, and television narratives which attempt to situate LatinX persons in the national discourse of “America”through romance tropes. These narratives, often veering towards fantasias, use love between opposing forces (class, race/ethnicity, nations) as an allegory for a better nation. They imagine a utopian vision of America that heals the oft-ignored rifts tearing at the fabric of the nation. Keywords: national romance, queer, LatinX, colonialism/imperialism, racism, reconciliation. A note on terms: I want to clarify some terminology I will use. First, I use “queer” asa blanket reclamation of a slur to refer to the broad spectrum of sexual orientation expression and gender diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community, though I focus primarily on gay/bi male centered narratives, and, when appropriate, will use more specific terms of reference when necessary. Secondly, I use LatinX or the gendered variations when necessary to refer broadly to subjectivities from the LATAM diaspora, bearing in mind the fraught usage of the term, the generational and regional complexities of the term relative to Hispanic, mindful of the term Chicano, and also the ever-malleable nature of inscribing the genderdness of these words. I also use the term sexile to refer to someone who immigrates because of sexuality.1 And finally, I use the term “rom-pol” as a play on rom-com, to refer to romance narratives that are also deeply political. On Mexican-American Rom-Pol Narratives of Reconciliation Doris Sommer’s 1993 study, Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin America, explores the national romance genre in the context of Latin American foundational fictions during the age of independence in the 19th century.2 These narratives are structured around the romantic entanglements of politically, socially, ethnically, oppositional lovers whose romantic attachments and ensuing struggles to be together mirror national historical moments of trauma and separation, and the need to form new narratives of union, within new nations. They have a 1 See Guzmán; also Mizzi. 2 For most of Latin America that was from 1810-1825 –with several hiccups along the way—while some did not gain independence until 20th century. political agenda of national consolidation, and burgeoning patriotism, wrapped up in heterosexual passion with the goal of engendering productive citizens for new nations.3 In many cases in the 19th century, these novels were written by women for whom political discourse was unseemly and from which they were cut off, and so they found ways to narrate politics through sentimentality. On the one hand, this narrative strategy gave women a political voice, and sometimes galvanized political action (perhaps the most famous of these in the American context being Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin) . On the other hand, the romance genre then, as now, allowed these political narratives in romantic drag to be dismissed as mere sentimentality. The way current rom-pols are critically assessed continues the trope of viewing them as escapist fantasy, rather than political tracts, often also because the themes are either narrated from a female or a queer perspective. In the absence of meaningful social or political solutions to pressing problems, culture often comes to the rescue to narrate alternative, hopeful future memories, or attempts to rectify the past, pointing out where things went wrong, offering a fantasy of what-if to compensate for past sociopolitical traumas and their current manifestations.4 These rom-pol narratives are often fanciful, utopian adjacent fantasies, which means, on the one hand, they are easily ignored as political or as fant

FAQs

What is the paper’s central focus on LatinX romance narratives?

It examines LatinX literary, cinematic, and television narratives that situate LatinX people within “America” using romance tropes, often treating love as allegory for national reconciliation and healing.

How does the author explain the term “queer” and its scope?

“Queer” is used as a reclaimed umbrella term for the LGBTQIA+ spectrum of sexual orientation expression and gender diversity, with an emphasis primarily on gay/bi male-centered narratives and more specific terms when needed.

What role does “rom-pol” play in the argument?

The author uses “rom-pol” to describe romance narratives that are also deeply political, connecting romantic plots to national discourse and political agendas of consolidation or reconciliation.

Aug 25, 2026

Upload by wps_ap_test_251126_0180