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This thesis investigates how an institutional coordination of civic policies and organizational processes within Pride Toronto were brought to bear on the activist group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) in their attempts to participate in the 2010, 2011, and 2012 Toronto Pride Parades. Utilizing an institutional ethnography (IE), I explore this issue in two key ways. First, by mapping a work-text-work sequence of QuAIA’s experience in applying to march in the 2010 Parade, I demonstrate how the application process was subject to social relations that extended beyond Toronto Pride. Second, through the elaboration of processing interchanges, I demonstrate how the experiences of QuAIA were hooked into a series of translocal relations via Pride Toronto’s funding relationship to the City of Toronto. These translocal relations working through the City of Toronto were themselves varied, from pro-Zionist pressure on individual City councilors, to an alignment with anti-tax and arguably homophobic interests on council. / Graduate

Considered as the ―...central organizing method‖ (Fuss, 1991:1) in terms of gender and sexual orientation particularly in the Western world, the heterosexual/homosexual binary, emphasises the centrality of ―compulsory heterosexuality‖ (Rich, 1993:227) in the everyday lives of social and sexual actors. In doing this, homosexuality is not only differentiated from heterosexuality, but may rather be ‗banished‘ to a lower and subordinate stratum of so-called sexual ―respectability‖ (Rubin, 1993:13). Using it as a point of departure, this particular sociological inquiry sought to critically explore the influence of a binary logic on the identity construction of gay male academics and students in South African tertiary education. This study provides an in-depth qualitative discussion of the lived experiences of these men on university campuses in order to redress the limited focus on the subject matter in South African sociology. Informed by the metatheoretical principles of phenomenology and central features of a symbolic interactionist methodology, three specific subthemes guided the research. These included the rationalisation of sexual orientation, self-reflexivity and, as my inductive contribution, a consideration of the deprofessionalisation and/or professionalisation of the gay male academic identity in South African higher education. In adopting Jackson and Scott‘s (2010) conceptualisation of the rationalisation of sexuality, the study sought to explore its role in the identity construction of gay men through, amongst others, ―sexual scripting‖ (Gagnon & Simon, 1973), ―doing gender‖ (West & Zimmerman, 2002), ―using gender‖ (Johnson, 2009) as well as ―doing gay‖ (Dowsett et al., 2008), to (de)construct a ―gay sensibility‖ (cf. Seidman, 2002a) within and between their private and professional contexts. Secondly, such negotiation of their homosexual ―performativity‖ (Butler, 1990) presupposed an undeniable degree of ―reflexiveness‖ (cf. Mead, 1962) on the part of the gay male, to adhere to the expectations of other individuals in a specific social context. Given the findings from a thematic analysis of fifteen (15) in-depth interviews with academics and seven (7) with students, as well as two (2) self-administered questionnaires completed by academics and seventeen (17) by students, the influence of heteronormativity, heterosexism and homophobia, was again reiterated. The participants mostly opted to professionalise their gay male identities (thus differentiate between their private and academic gay male identity), regardless of the fact that their narratives reflected an internal diversity, plurality and potentially non-subordinate otherness, akin to Plummer‘s (1998b) reference to ―homosexualities‖ rather than only one homogenised version of ‗homosexuality‘. Their choice to do so was attributed to a conscious effort to either ‗pass‘ as heterosexual, assimilate into the dominant sexual and gendered culture of the campus, or conform to a stereotypical gay performance in homosexually-segregated academic departments because of anxiety, fear or shame. As such, the potential of mastering an uncategorised ‗queer‘ inclination in tertiary education, becomes all the more difficult, if not improbable. / PhD (Sociology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Considered as the ―...central organizing method‖ (Fuss, 1991:1) in terms of gender and sexual orientation particularly in the Western world, the heterosexual/homosexual binary, emphasises the centrality of ―compulsory heterosexuality‖ (Rich, 1993:227) in the everyday lives of social and sexual actors. In doing this, homosexuality is not only differentiated from heterosexuality, but may rather be ‗banished‘ to a lower and subordinate stratum of so-called sexual ―respectability‖ (Rubin, 1993:13). Using it as a point of departure, this particular sociological inquiry sought to critically explore the influence of a binary logic on the identity construction of gay male academics and students in South African tertiary education. This study provides an in-depth qualitative discussion of the lived experiences of these men on university campuses in order to redress the limited focus on the subject matter in South African sociology. Informed by the metatheoretical principles of phenomenology and central features of a symbolic interactionist methodology, three specific subthemes guided the research. These included the rationalisation of sexual orientation, self-reflexivity and, as my inductive contribution, a consideration of the deprofessionalisation and/or professionalisation of the gay male academic identity in South African higher education. In adopting Jackson and Scott‘s (2010) conceptualisation of the rationalisation of sexuality, the study sought to explore its role in the identity construction of gay men through, amongst others, ―sexual scripting‖ (Gagnon & Simon, 1973), ―doing gender‖ (West & Zimmerman, 2002), ―using gender‖ (Johnson, 2009) as well as ―doing gay‖ (Dowsett et al., 2008), to (de)construct a ―gay sensibility‖ (cf. Seidman, 2002a) within and between their private and professional contexts. Secondly, such negotiation of their homosexual ―performativity‖ (Butler, 1990) presupposed an undeniable degree of ―reflexiveness‖ (cf. Mead, 1962) on the part of the gay male, to adhere to the expectations of other individuals in a specific social context. Given the findings from a thematic analysis of fifteen (15) in-depth interviews with academics and seven (7) with students, as well as two (2) self-administered questionnaires completed by academics and seventeen (17) by students, the influence of heteronormativity, heterosexism and homophobia, was again reiterated. The participants mostly opted to professionalise their gay male identities (thus differentiate between their private and academic gay male identity), regardless of the fact that their narratives reflected an internal diversity, plurality and potentially non-subordinate otherness, akin to Plummer‘s (1998b) reference to ―homosexualities‖ rather than only one homogenised version of ‗homosexuality‘. Their choice to do so was attributed to a conscious effort to either ‗pass‘ as heterosexual, assimilate into the dominant sexual and gendered culture of the campus, or conform to a stereotypical gay performance in homosexually-segregated academic departments because of anxiety, fear or shame. As such, the potential of mastering an uncategorised ‗queer‘ inclination in tertiary education, becomes all the more difficult, if not improbable. / PhD (Sociology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This study explores how same sex couples in Sweden, a country with strong gender equality policies and discourses understand their lives and relationships. Central to the study is the analysis of the tensions between a public discourse favoring openness for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals and a lack of acknowledgment of non-heterosexual family practices; as well as the tensions between gender equality policies and discourses and the specific construction of same sex couples. The study is grounded in a feminist and queer perspective and inspired by narrative analysis. Furthermore, it uses an intersectional perspective in which different axes of power are seen as mutually constituted. Interviews were conducted with same sex couples, both individually and together, in which the following topics were addressed: intimacy, division of household labor, domestic decision-making, conflict resolution, and the social context in which the couples live. One part of the study analyzes the economic foundations upon which the couples live and how income and possessions are organized within their relationship. This study shows that income and status are key questions for studying equality within same sex couples. The analysis is concerned with the tensions generated by the partners' class position as well as the negotiations which occur between the couple. It becomes apparent that the equality as an ideal is difficult to attain in practice. Even same sex partners are forced to relate to household labor as gendered practices. The interviewees describe their couple relationship and everyday life within heteronormative discourses. Through their stories, the interviewed couples give a view of the way in which everyday experiences of heteronormative confrontations affect the construction of their relationship. This study also indicates that same sex couples are neither more equal nor less conflict laden than heterosexual couples, even if they position themselves in relation to heterosexual couples as anti-role models. When the interviewees position themselves in relation to heterosexual couples they simultaneously embody the ideal of the gender equality discourse and the norms of being an ideal couple.

This thesis examines how archives and archival pedagogy can be used to increase the visibility and availability of LGBTQ-history. The aim of this thesis is to explore how archival pedagogy can be used to benefit LGBT-people’s identity formation and what role(s) archives could offer. The thesis is based in textual analysis combined with a visit at QRAB, Sweden’s only LGBTQ archive, and research into the kind of archival materials available. It uses queer theory, norm critical pedagogy and archival pedagogy to evaluate the materials available as well as develop an example of an archival pedagogical tool known as the “archive suitcase.” Both literature and archival material with direct connection to LGBTQ-history have been usedfor a historical summary over Sweden’s LGBTQ-history. The visit to QRAB also resulted in a presentation of archival materials available and an example for the archive suitcase with a focus on trans and gender nonconforming history. The study concludes that archives have a major role to play in the advancement and promotionof LGBTQ-history and therefore also in LGBTQ-people’s identity formations. It also accounts for ways the archives can use their existing archival material in their archival pedagogy outreach. This is a master’s thesis in Archival Science.