Ethel Cain: A Que(e)rying Saint

Abstract

This paper examines the artist Hayden Anhedönia as a saint through her character Ethel Cain in the concept album Preacher's Daughter. Using Henry Jenkins' participatory culture and Willa Blythe Baker's call for community and communication to heal from religious trauma as my conceptual frameworks, this paper's interwoven discouse and content analyses study how the Mother Cain fandom utilize Preacher's Daughter and the community to disucss religious trauma and their devotion to Anhedönia. Through this development of her art and the resulting fandom, Anhedönia queers how sainthood is constructed and received.