Graduate Student Spotlight: Damon Darling on Queer Archives, Environmental Belonging, and Care
Damon Darling
The Department of Communication is excited to highlight the work of PhD candidate Damon Darling, whose scholarship explores how Queer communities relate to and find meaning in the environments around them. Damon’s research centers on Queer Ecologies, an interdisciplinary field that applies Queer theory to nature and biology, and Art-Based Research/Narrative Methodologies. He is uniquely positioned as the only performance artist in the Department of Communication, and he has gained national acclaim for his prolific conference appearances and top paper awards, already winning two top paper awards in 2026.
Damon’s work is broad-reaching, exploring many facets of Queerness through archival work, sex & sex media, and health communication. He aims to challenge heteronormative narratives around the natural world to expand public thought and create new narratives building on the experiences and research of those who came before him.
His recent scholarship is built on the stories of others and the theory of archive as burial ground, séance, and afterlife–in other words, treating archive not only as a research method, but as a conversation that embodies and gives life to the dead.
Recent Scholarly Projects
Damon’s recent scholarly projects reflect a dynamic body of work that moves between publication, performance, and conference-based engagement. Damon currently has three articles under review and two published pieces: “Topping the Genre: Pro-porn Feminist Implications of Trans-Topping in Gay Pornography,” published in Critical Studies in Media Communication in February 2026, and “H(a)unting Grounds: Exorcising the Queer Ghosts of Metronormativity,” published in the Journal of Homosexuality in October of 2025. In addition, Damon has five book chapters which will be included in forthcoming edited volumes and manuscripts. Damon’s work is actively circulated through conference presentations and performances. He will be participating in five major conferences during the 2025-2026 academic year, including multiple accepted papers, performances, and panels. His scholarship will be recognized with the Jimmie Manning Award for Top Paper in the Sexuality and Gender Identity Caucus & Top Student Paper in the Sexuality and Gender Identity Caucus for the paper “For All My Dead Friends/ How (Un)becoming of Us” which will be awarded at the Central States Communication Association Convention.
Dissertation in Progress
Damon’s dissertation in progress confronts the scarcity of preserved Queer histories in the Intermountain West by bringing archival research and performance into direct conversation. In the 11 subregions of the Intermountain West there exist only seven archives that mention Queer people. Only five of the seven have recorded narratives from Queer and Trans folx. Damon’s dissertation, “Echoes in the Mountains: (Re)Preforming the Queer Archive of the Intermountain West,” will examine the recorded narratives of Queer people in the Mountain West and compile them into a new narrative, which will be developed into a performance piece. Damon will travel to UNLV, Boise State, Whitman College, UNM, and the Utah Historical Society to visit their archives and trace the contours of oral histories between the 1970s and the 2000s. He plans to listen to, transcribe, and in some cases watch these Queer oral histories to draw connections between them and examine the lives and stories of Queer people who exist outside of large metro or coastal areas.
Damon has currently completed fieldwork at the Utah Historical Society and UNLV to lay the foundation for his prospectus, which will be defended in April. This work positions his dissertation as both a critical intervention and creative inquiry into how Queer histories are recorded, remembered, and re-performed.
In the Classroom
Beyond research, Damon derives a lot of joy from teaching and mentoring as well as helping students develop and grow. He recently helped a student in his Applied Communication Research class, Dorothy McGinnis, develop her final piece for publication, which ended up winning a Top Debut Paper award at the Western States Communication Association. Damon deeply cares about the education of others and prioritizes educating. As a former teacher, education is at the heart of everything Damon does. He aims to make his work accessible to all, not just exclusive to academics in the field, embodying a personal approach. He hopes that when readers view his stories, they connect with them:
"We forget there is a human on the other side reading. I want them to know that I am here, and I want you to listen, hear, and relate to the story."
Together, Damon’s approach to research, performance, and pedagogy underscores his growing impact within the Department, the nation, and beyond.