Gabriel Gaston is a first-year M.A. student in Communication Studies, working under the supervision of Professor Carrie Rentschler. They are particularly interested in the ways that community, memory, and connection are retained in digital spaces. To that end, their research will engage questions designed to draw upon 2SLGBTQIA+, feminist, and intersectional theory to support an in-depth investigation of meaning-making and affect related to transgender experiences on social media sites. This thesis aims to interrogate how the complexity and fluidity of transgender identity construction is (and is not) compatible with the simultaneous permanence and ephemerality of digital media, online platforms, and data.Â
Gabriel holds a Bachelor of Arts from Ï㽶ÊÓƵ in Liberal Arts, Communication Studies, and Hispanic Languages.