ABSTRACT
Performative autoethnography calls for inserting the bodily flesh and its many positions as ways of knowing. Engaging the term autopoietic narratives, I summon a creative yet critical articulation of my lived experiences in a textual performance where different perceptions and standpoints of beauty enter conversation and create new memories and new experiences, that, in this case, foster a space for understanding and possibility. This essay troubles boundaries of binary labels attached to class, beauty, and sexuality in addition to race, and the ways in which markers of authenticity, desire, and positionality influence our perceptions of self.
