Conceptualizing Academic Putería: A Critical Reflection of the WAPS, DAPs, and Flops

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to engage in a critical reflection of our experiences as two of three co-presenters on a panel presentation introducing the concept of academic putería through personal narrative, delivered in virtual form at the 2022 NACCS conference. With the help of the audio/video recorded session, the authors offer an abridged transcript of the preceding, giving prominence to the transformative impressions, feelings, emotions, and ideas that formulated the radically queer and provocative notion of academic putería. Contrary to our expectations, collaborating with cisgender, heterosexual Chicanas and Latinas in the academy is easier said than done. In what has become a habit for the authors, we conclude with an exercise in critical self-reflection as a means of examining our own role in failed collaborations, our susceptibility to the academic seduction of belonging, and the many strengths and vulnerabilities that we embody as queer, first-generation, and neurodivergent students from historically excluded communities. This article, therefore, represents our desire to shift beyond anti-erotic, DAP (dry as pussy) collegial relations towards more equitable and pleasurable WAP (wet ass pussy) connections with future collaborators. But first, we offer a brief overview of a few key terms that are commonly engaged in our repertoire of linguistic putasos.