Guerrilla Conversions in Jessica Hagedorn and José Rizal: The Queer Future of National Romance

This article calls for a critical reevaluation of Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters that situates Hagedorn within the historical specificity of the Philippines during multiple occupations. Though she is typically read as an Asian American author, reading Hagedorn back into the Philippines reveals new literary traditions that inform her work. Specifically, reading Hagedorn alongside the late nineteenth-century Filipino patriot and national hero José Rizal reveals a previously unidentified genre, the guerrilla conversion narrative.