Broadly, this thesis is a project about queerness and its relationship to Twilight. This thesis seeks to recuperate the queer in the Twilight series. Using discourse analysis, I explore both common and uncommon representations of queerness and the popular and unpopular discourses of Twilight. While both Chapter 1 and 2 offer paranoid readings of the Twilight series and its relationship to queerness, Chapter 3 presents a reparative reading of the text. I argue that Meyer’s tame and conservative vampire, conventionally represented as being either sexually ambiguous or outside the norm, is symptomatic of a modern culture that is becoming more accepting of odd, strange, and/or queer individuals. I maintain, however, that the normalization of specific "ways of being" still comes at the expense of the constitutive “other”. Furthermore, I understand this process of normalizing a monster to be representative of a seemingly apolitical, yet violent, Faludian backlash toward queers.

Broadly, this thesis is a project about queerness and its relationship to Twilight. This thesis seeks to recuperate the queer in the Twilight series. Using discourse analysis, I explore both common and uncommon representations of queerness and the popular and unpopular discourses of Twilight. While both Chapter 1 and 2 offer paranoid readings of the Twilight series and its relationship to queerness, Chapter 3 presents a reparative reading of the text. I argue that Meyer’s tame and conservative vampire, conventionally represented as being either sexually ambiguous or outside the norm, is symptomatic of a modern culture that is becoming more accepting of odd, strange, and/or queer individuals. I maintain, however, that the normalization of specific "ways of being" still comes at the expense of the constitutive “other”. Furthermore, I understand this process of normalizing a monster to be representative of a seemingly apolitical, yet violent, Faludian backlash toward queers.

Fondée sur l'ethnographie d'associations parisiennes gays noires et sur des entretiens semi-biographiques auprès de personnes se définissant comme gay noir, cette thèse a pour objet l'articulation du racisme et de l'homophobie en contexte français contemporain. La construction sociale de ces oppressions comme séparées et hiérarchisées alimente un processus global de racisation de l'homophobie qui pose les minorités raciales comme supposément plus homophobes. Les personnes interrogées – tant individuellement que collectivement – ont tendance à être plus préoccupées par l'homophobie que par le racisme et à comprendre leur marginalisation comme l'effet d'une « homophobie noire » exacerbée, faits qui participent à alimenter la racisation de l'homophobie. Pour expliquer la subordination individuelle et collective du racisme a l'homophobie, l'analyse porte dans un premier temps sur la façon dont racisme et homophobie s'articulent et se coconstruisent comme instances de marginalisation dans la vie quotidienne des gays noirs. Elle interroge l'effet de la marginalisation sexuelle sur la marginalisation raciale et inversement en espace majoritaire et au sein des groupes statutaires d'appartenance des gays noirs. Elle porte ensuite sur la construction de soi en tant que gay noir et sur l'émergence et la structuration de mobilisations associatives gays noires. D'un point de vue théorique, cette thèse se situe au sein du paradigme intersectionnel et propose des éléments méthodologiques, analytiques et théoriques visant à rendre opératoire l'intersectionnalité dans une démarche de recherche empiriquement fondée. Elle propose, en outre, des éléments portant sur la distinction analytique entre race et ethnicité et avance des propositions conceptuelles pour appréhender la race en tant que rapport social. / Based on an ethnography of Parisian black gay organizations and semi-biographic interviews of self-identified black gay individuals, this Ph.D dissertation focuses on the articulation of racism and homophobia in contemporary France. Racism and homophobia are socially constructed as separate and hierarchized, supporting the “racialization of homophobia” (a process that labels racial minorities as particularly homophobic). Interviewees tend to be more preoccupied by homophobia than racism, both individually and collectively, and tend to understand their marginalization as the result of an exacerbated “black homophobia”. These facts fuel the aforementioned racialization of homophobia. To explain this deprioritization of racism vis-à-vis homophobia, this analysis focuses on the articulation and the co-construction of racism and homophobia as marginalization factors in black gay individuals’ daily lives. The effects of sexual marginalization on racial marginalization and vice versa are studied in various contexts (within homosexual spaces, black spaces and majority society). Then, the analysis concentrates on the process of self-construction as a black gay individual and on the emergence and structuring of black gay organizations. On a theoretical level, this intersectional research suggests methodological, analytical and theoretical elements to implement intersectionality in empirically grounded studies. Additionally, it proposes elements to analytically distinguish race and ethnicity and to conceptualize race as a structural power relationship.

This thesis examines the portrayal of racial and sexual identities in the film Love, Simon (2018). Love, Simon follows the story of Simon Spier, a white, gay high school student who discovers true love and acceptance from his peers. Many Hollywood entertainment reviewers praised the film for its progressive portrayal of a LGBTQ romance between teenage characters. At the same time, Love, Simon uses Black characters to re-center Simon to show that Whiteness can rehabilitate queerness. I use Jasbir K. Puar’s (2007) idea of homonationalism- LGBTQ rights discourse privilege white gay men while conversely decentering Black and Brown (queer) people- and postracism as organizing frameworks for this thesis project. I ask: how might homonationalism create new understandings of how Love, Simon portrays race and sexuality? What are the costs of the film including some bodies while isolating and disadvantaging others?

Previous research has discussed the extension of social, economic, and political rights, including same-sex marriage, to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities. Yet, as Duggan (2002, 2003) and other argue, these sexual rights are extended only to individuals on the condition that they conform to the pre-existing heteronormative framework. Puar (2007) argues that this new normativity, called homonormativity, is part of a larger nationalist project that constructs and defines the terms of national belonging by extending sexual citizenship to the "good gay citizen." One way that individuals can work towards their inclusion is through consuming homonationalist "prepackaged experiences" that spread American ideals through travel. One example of this includes study abroad programs, where students serve as representatives of the home nation by spreading skills, culture, and ideologies to the international real through subtle actions. Preparatory orientation programs serve as a sight where students are instructed on how to be responsible representative citizens of the their nation (Virginia Tech Global Education Office 2014). Utilizing analysis of a study abroad website, participant observation of an orientation program, and eight interviews with study abroad staff and lesbian, bay, and bisexual identified students, this study examines how study abroad perpetuates homonationalist motives and ideals through the construction and inclusion of the "good representative student." I find that by privatizing and excluding sexuality from the study abroad experience as a "non-factor"--claiming that is it a matter of what students do, not who they are--homonationalism can be considered a consequence of current orientation practices. / Master of Science

In this dissertation, I examine the internal divisions in LGBT/Q communities. I illustrate how the notion of a single, unified community is not only fictive, but counter to the goals of liberation. Utilizing critical discourse analysis, I examine cultural artifacts of the contemporary gay rights movement to determine who has the power to shape domestic and international gay rights discourse. I analyze the role of gay citizenship through the same-sex marriage debates, the creation of the homonational soldier, and how gay rights is employed in international conflicts to strategically promote some countries as progressive, while denouncing others as backwards. I argue that the gay rights movement does not address the needs of all members of LGBT/Q communities, but rather, focuses on the wants of the elite and privileged. Despite recent advances, the gay rights movement has been stunted by a limited and marginalizing focus on normalization. Lastly, I present a queer perspective on gay rights and reimagine a movement that is more courageous and inclusive.

I uppsatsen görs en kritisk diskursanalys ur ett hbtq-perspektiv av Sverigedemokraternas styrdokument, den partianknutna tidningen SD-Kuriren och några andra relevanta texter. Materialet har delats in i tre tidsperioder, 1989-1995, 1996-2002 och 2003-2015 och frågorna som ställs till materialet handlar om vilka problem, orsaker till problem och lösningar på problem som går att identifiera som centrala i de studerade texterna. De identifierade problemen under de olika perioderna är ”den låga nativiteten”, ”osundheten” och ”den hotade kärnfamiljen; samt ”den hotade kärnfamiljen och den därmed hotade nationen”. Alla dessa problem kan kopplas ihop med Sverigedemokraternas hbtq-politik. I ett andra steg i uppsatsen görs en kvantitativ studie över frekvensen av ett antal ur det studerade perspektivet centrala ord i partiets styrdokument och hur användningen av dessa ord varierar över tid. De studerade orden är sund, familj, naturlig, nation, moral, folk och nativitet. Ett par av resultaten är att användningen av ordet ”nation” är som mest frekvent i det senaste styrdokumentet, medan ordet ”sund” var mest vanligt under den mittersta av de studerade perioderna. I analysens sista del görs utblickar mot Sverigedemokraternas agerande på det hbtq-politiska området, under de senaste åren. Med hjälp av begreppen heteronormativitet, homonormativitet och homonationalism görs avslutningsvis ytterligare en läsning av texterna där exempel på alla dessa företeelser går att identifiera i materialet.

I have used Massey’s (1995) concept of Geographical Imaginations together with Ahmed’s (2006) Queer Phenomenology to research the different meanings attached to Pride festivals in Stockholm and Gothenburg. In this thesis, Pride is defined as a contested place, which is held in places. To research perceptions of Pride and its hosting cities, I have interviewed people with experiences from the Pride festivals and city council employees involved with them. I have also analysed communication and marketing material related to Pride and LGBTQ tourism in Stockholm and Gothenburg. The interviews and the published material showed that Pride as a place sometimes queers parts of the city space by changing them temporarily, making LGBTQ performances more visible. Meanwhile, the articulations of Pride made by city officials, employees and tourist marketing materials showed how LGBTQ rights were understood as dependent on space and time, where both the cities and Sweden were conceptualised as “ahead” in time compared to other places, defining human rights as a Swedish national trait and a tourist commodity.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how the construction of the swedish national self-image can be interpreted in relation to the protests against the russian anti-gay laws, leading up to the olympic games in Sotji 2014. I form a basis for my analysis in Jasbir K. Puars conceptual frame of homonationalism and examine the swedish political action Live and Let Love that took place at Stockholms Stadion in the fall of 2013. The analysis shows how the inclusion of a homonormative homosexuality becomes an important factor for the construction of Sweden as an open and tolerant nation in contrast to Russia as a non tolerant nation. This construction of "us" and the "Other" manifests through a discourse of tolerance. The national sense of community is formed through interaction between national symbols and symbols of the LGBT community.

abstract: This dissertation project examines the cultural labor of the drag queen in the United States (US). I explore how the drag queen can be understood as a heuristic to understand the stakes and limits of belonging and exceptionalism. Inclusion in our social and national belonging in the US allows for legibility and safety, however, when exceptional or token figures become the path towards achieving belonging, it can leave out those who are unable to conform, which are often the most vulnerable folks. I argue that attending to the drag queen’s trajectory, we can trace the ways that multiply-marginalized bodies navigate attempts to include, subsume, and erase their existence by the nation-state while simultaneously celebrating and consuming them in the realm of media and consumer culture. In the first chapter I introduce the project, the context and the stakes involved. Chapter two examines representations of drag queens in films to unpack how these representations have layered over time for American audiences, and positions these films as necessary building blocks for queer semiosis for viewers to return to and engage with. Chapter three analyzes RuPaul and RuPaul’s Drag Race to outline RuPaul labor as an exceptional subject, focusing on his investment in homonormative politics and labor supporting homonationalist projects. Chapter four centers questions of trans* identity and race, specifically Blackness to analyze how Drag Race renders certain bodies and performances legitimate and legible, constructing proper drag citizens. Chapter five utilizes ethnographic methods to center local drag communities, focusing on The Rock and drag performers in Phoenix, Arizona to analyze how performers navigate shifting media discourses of drag and construct a queer performance space all their own. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Gender Studies 2020