Many queers are drawn to ‘the city’, as an (imagined) more progressive, and queered space. Its urbanity may offer anonymity as well as community. A major city means both the presence of diversity, of other queers, as well as possibly a queered understanding of ‘the city’ itself, with rich queer histories and cultures ingrained into the public and private realm. But then again, the realities within the city of Berlin is often a different one. Finding community that works, a multitude of exclusions plus the need for safer spaces make it harder to connect and are part of the experience of queer community. I try to understand the queerness within the feeling of yearning, of trying to find a place where one belongs and connect it with the feelings of disappointment and loneliness. I conducted interviews following a semi-guided structure. In their analysis, I hope to understand how urban queer loneliness is experienced and understood.

Queer youth enactments of agency, resistance, and worldmaking have been under researched in rhetorical studies. Investigating how queer world making for youth takes place at a space entitled Camp Half-Blood, a live action role playing (LARP) fantasy camp for ages 8-18, this study contends that queer youth at Camp Half-Blood utilize Burke's equipment for living, disidentifications, queer relationality, and queer hope as embodiments that create queer lifeworlds and mobilize queer campers toward queer livable futures. By interviewing campers on their perspectives of being queer at camp and the impact LARPing had on the creation of queer youth identity, as well as the ways LARPing and camp affected queer youth camper envisioning of the future, this research maintains that queer youth have the potential to utilize LARPing in radical ways to revise (cis)heteronormative and hegemonic understandings of their social standings in the world. Camp Half-Blood also offers an opportunity to bring research on queer youth in fandoms from online spaces to offline spaces and extends research on youth agency and youth queer world making.

Anaïs Nin's Diary and her fiction have been lauded by critics for their imagery, Freudian allusions, and creativity. What has not been considered, and is equally important, is her Erotica series, Delta of Venus and Little Birds. These books, her most popular, not only address the issues that she covers in her other works, but also ask questions about how humans are gendered, and consider the degree to which individuals construct their own gender identities. In exploring these questions, she presages not only the theorists who effectively deconstruct her message, but also the gender-bending society which inspired them. Queer theory is particularly effective for considering the sexual messages with which Nin populates her writings. Much as Judith Butler de-emphasizes totalizing gender roles, Nin allows her characters to occupy multiple gender roles. Thus, Nin's female protagonists often take on the sexual positions generally granted to men in American society. Conversely, her male characters are often relegated to less-empowered roles. Although these shifts might not seem particularly impressive in our more liberated society, they were undoubtedly surprising in Nin's day. Moreover, it is impressive that these role-reversing characters were created over forty years before the advent of queer theory, and long before the popular rise of the Feminist movement. / Master of Arts

The thesis proposes the New Queer Cinema chapter of film history as a paradigm of queer film's subversive practices. The theoretically and historically focused first part establishes the term queer, expounds its possible applications to film in the realm of queer film studies and in the third chapter critically introduces the 'new wave' of queer film New Queer Cinema. The analytical part assigns queer and its possible functions as its basis for inquiry. It consists of two parts: the first performs the formal-content analysis of the pivotal film Swoon (1992); the final chapter builds on its conclusions and examines the corpus of New Queer Cinema films along four analytical cuts in order to describe how they produce the queer discourse. The final output of the thesis is an open model of prospective approaches to queer film.

No description available.

Are we witnessing the emergence of queer community? To answer this question, I interviewed self-identified queer people living in Atlanta, Georgia. During one-on-one and relational interviews, 31 participants reflected on how they understand and live queer, as well as socialize with other queers. An intention of this study is to advance theory; as such, this analysis inspected tenets asserted by “first wave” theoreticians and activists of the 1980s and 1990s. To test theory, I attend to queer as fluid, non-normative and diverse. The participants viewed their queerness in sexuality, gender, and political terms congruent with a first-wave framework. On the whole, participants supported the emergence of queer community, yet offered a cautionary tale as to whether collective queer will be able to achieve its political goals. “Still here, still queer” extends theory in the direction of shared identity and code for conduct, essential dynamics of community.

Orientador: Aparecido Donizete Rossi / Banca: Jorge Vicente Valentim / Banca: Rodrigo Valverde Denubila / Resumo: Ainda hoje, a transexualidade encontra-se assombrada pelo espectro da subalternidade e da marginalidade, uma vez que essa condição ainda remete áreas das ciências médicas a formas e modos de patologização, que surgem como herança da concepção moderna, falocêntrica e positivista do corpo, que refletiu em diversas áreas de conhecimento, mesmo na dos estudos literários, que tratam temáticas como essa a partir do viés da subalternidade. Com o desenvolvimento dos estudos culturais nos anos 1960, tornaram-se possíveis leituras queer de obras literárias sob a perspectiva da desconstrução, termo originado a partir dos escritos do filósofo francês Jacques Derrida, e, com o posterior nascimento do pós-estruturalismo, abriram-se as possibilidades de refutação a leituras fixas dos cânones literários, bem como a negação a uma versão fixa, teleológica e falogocêntrica acerca da história da literatura. Os romances Orlando (1928), de Virginia Woolf, e Orlanda (1996), de Jacqueline Harpman, remetem a performances literárias de identidades trans (aqui englobando as manifestações da transexualidade, transgeneridade, travestilidade e intersexualidades) sob o prisma de diferentes nacionalidades, contextos políticos, socioeconômicos e posicionamentos artísticos circunscritos às suas autoras quando na data de publicação. Partindo de uma análise comparada das duas obras pretende-se encontrar pontos comuns e divergentes entre seus projetos literários e traçar uma arqueologia de romances trans do sécu... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Until the present days, transexuality finds itself haunted by the spectrum of subalternity and marginality, since medical sciences still treat this subjectivity as a type of pathology and mental illness. The phallocentric and positivist vision of the body is a heritage from Modernity that reflects in many areas of knowledge, even within the literary studies. With the development of the cultural studies during the 1960s, it became possible to bring queer perspectives on literary works with the help of deconstruction, a term originated from the reception of French philosopher Jacques Derrida, which later caused the birth of poststrucuturalism, it opened some possibilities to refute fixed readings of the literary cannon, as well as a denial of a fixed, teleological and phallocentric version of literary history. The novels Orlando (1928), by Virginia Woolf, and Orlanda (1996), by Jacqueline Harpman, offer literary performances of trans identities (comprehending manifestations of transsexuality, transgender, travesty and intersexualities) from the point of view of different nationalities, political contexts, socioeconomical and artistical positions circumscribed to their authors within the date of publishing. Departing from a compared analysis of the two works, we intend to find both common and parting points between their literary projects and trace an archeology of trans novels from the 20th century, assessing how the transcendence to heteronormativity allows the literary revisi... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

O emergir deste novo século traz consigo mudanças significativas nas estruturas sociais, políticas e econômicas. Especificamente na esfera social, assistimos a reconfiguração dos modelos familiares, antes presos a estrutura patriarcal e nuclear, e hoje abertos a inúmeras possibilidades, dentre as quais os casais homossexuais. As discussões acerca dessas relações têm ganhado fôlego e visibilidade e seus debates transitam entre o campo político, jurídico, religioso, moral e científico. Observa-se uma relativa tendência dentro da academia e da prática psicológica de buscar uma postura não estigmatizante e preconceituosa. Em contrapartida, a literatura científica que trata do tema é escassa e os estudos nacionais são ainda mais raros. Neste sentido, este estudo qualitativo teve como objetivo conhecer de maneira aprofundada a experiência conjugal de casais homossexuais à luz das transformações da intimidade na contemporaneidade. Acredita-se que tal conhecimento pode oferecer subsídios para o planejamento e execução de intervenções psicológicas que considerem as necessidades e características específicas dessa população. Para isso, foram realizadas entrevistas abertas com seis casais homossexuais masculinos de Ribeirão Preto, constituídos de parceiros adultos com pelo menos três anos de coabitação. As entrevistas foram áudio-gravadas, transcritas na íntegra e submetidas à análise de conteúdo temática. Como complementação, foi mantido um diário de campo para registro de impressões e acontecimentos durante a fase de coleta de dados. A partir da análise do material pôde-se identificar que o processo de construção da relação desses casais é marcado pela busca de modelos de relacionamento em que ora leva a comparação ao modelo heterossexual dominante, ora culmina com o desenvolvimento criativo de um estilo particular de conjugalidade. Os casais relatam esforço de negociação das diferenças que emergem ao longo da história da relação e que demandam mudanças contínuas. Tais mudanças imprimem um caráter transformador à experiência conjugal. Os ritos que os casais desenvolvem atuam como forma de circunscrever os limites da relação, marcar o tempo e as fases compartilhadas e de oferecer segurança na medida em que produzem uma tradição confortante. Além disso, a relação homossexual é produzida em contínuo diálogo com as instâncias sociais que muitas vezes, por preconceito e discriminação, limitam e isolam a experiência conjugal, constituindo uma fonte de angústia. Nesse sentido, a ciência psicológica pode contribuir favorecendo a criação de espaços e contextos dialógicos onde esses casais possam encontrar apoio e auxílio na construção de seus relacionamentos. / The new century has brought meaningful changes in social, political and economical structures. In the social arena, we can notice a reconfiguration of familiar models, once bound to a nuclear and patriarchal standard, and nowadays open to several possible configurations, from among homosexual couples. The debate around such relations is getting louder and visible and its outcomes move in the political, legal, religious, moral and scientific fields. It can be noticed a relative bias either in the academic discussion or in psychological practice to search for a non-stigmatizing approach. On the other hand, scientific literature concerning this subject is scarce and national studies are even rarer. Thus, this qualitative study aimed at understanding the conjugal experience of male homosexual couples as part of the contemporary transformations on intimacy. We believe that such understanding can subsidize the planning and execution of psychological interventions designed to meet the specific characteristics and needs of this population. Six male adult homosexual couples from Ribeirão Preto with at least three years of cohabitation were interviewed. The interviews were audio-recorded, fully transcribed and submitted to a content analysis. A field diary was kept as a complementary form of data collection, in which impressions and especial events were registered. The interviews analysis shows that the process though which the couples construct their relations is marked by the search for relationship standards that either leads to a comparison to the dominant heterosexual model, or ends up in the creative development of a particular conjugal pattern. The couples report effort to negotiate the differences that emerges during the history of the relationship and that demands continuous changes. Such changes determine a transformative character to the conjugal experience. Rites developed inside the relationship works as forms of circumscribing the relations boundaries, marking time and stages and offering security once they produce a comfortable tradition. Furthermore, homosexual relationships are produced in a continuous dialogue with social instances that, often by prejudice and discrimination, constrain and isolate the conjugal experience, constituting a source of distress. In this sense, Psychology can contribute favoring the creation of dialogical contexts where these couples may find support in the construction of their relationships.

Orientador: Patricia Porchat da Silva Knudsen / Banca: Ana Paula Leivar Brancaleoni / Banca: Larissa Pelúcio Maués Silva / Resumo: A experiência transexual é uma temática de especial evidência no contexto acadêmico contemporâneo, sendo descrita como um fenômeno complexo, que pressupõe uma incompatibilidade entre gênero e sexo biológico. Por interrogar o modelo binário sexo/gênero, permite que se questione os discursos científicos envoltos em pressupostos de naturalização dos corpos. A deficiência, fora dos modelos reabilitativos, representaria per si um transgressão da "ordem anatômica", ainda que seja reconhecida pelo modelo biomédico como o resultado de uma falha, congênita ou adquirida, que afetará o funcionamento "normal" do corpo ou de algumas de suas partes. A percepção de ambos os corpos recebe novos contornos quando de encontro à leitura de Judith Butler, para a qual, o lugar de patologização e abjeção conferido a estas experiências são resultado de práticas discursivas que estabelecem relações de poder que incidem sobre os corpos. Refletindo sobre as múltiplas possibilidades de experiências compreendidas a partir do feminino e considerando a posição de subalternidade conferida a esses corpos diante das normas hegemônicas, este trabalho se propõe a oportunizar um espaço de narrativa e análise para uma experiência pouco explorada academicamente: a experiência subjetiva de mulheres trans deficientes. Focalizando em especial os disability studies e suas possíveis interlocuções com a Teoria Queer como aporte teórico, foram realizadas entrevistas com três mulheres trans deficientes, sendo elas: duas p... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The transsexual experience is a highlighted theme in the current academic context, being portrayed as a complex phenomenon, which presupposes an incompatibility between gender and biological sex. By questioning the binary sex/gender model, it is allowed to question the scientific speeches wrapped in body naturalization presumptions. Disability, out of rehabilitative model, would represent, per se, a transgressions of the "anatomic order", even if recognized by the biomedical model as the result of a flaw, either congenital or acquired, that will affect the "normal" functioning of the body or of some of its parts. The perception of both bodies acquire new outlining when facing the reading of Judith Butler, for whom the place of pathologization and abjection conferred to these experiences are the result of speech practices that establish power relations that act upon the bodies. Reflecting upon the multiple possibilities of experiences, understood on the basis of feminine, and considering the subordinate position conferred to these bodies in the face of the hegemonic rules, this work aims to create a space of narrative and analysis for an experience that has been little explored academically: the subjective experience of disabled trans women. Focusing, specially, on the disability studies and its possible interlocutions with the Queer theory as theoretical basis, interviews with three disabled trans women were made, being them: two physically disabled women and a sensorial disa... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Within recent years, there has been a growth of interest in both queer health and geographies of sexualities. However, the majority of this research has focused on both queer health and use of space as they related to sexual activity, sex-related health risks, and desire, while overlooking those aspects of both queer identity and health that are not directly tied to sexual activity. This study addresses these gaps within the literature by studying queer health using the lens of place. The objective of this study is to understand how self-identified queer students at the University of Saskatchewan negotiated space and in particular, safe spaces, in their daily lives, and how this negotiation affected their health and well-being. This research was conceptually guided by ideas within feminist thought and queer theory. The study took place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and included a group of five University of Saskatchewan undergraduate and certificate students who self-identified as queer. Participants were recruited through advertisements posted both online and throughout the campus. Data were collected through an action research approach with methods that included individual interviews, group meetings, and Photovoice. Results of the study include a list of elements that participants used to label safe spaces and lists of common safe spaces and safe areas on the University of Saskatchewan campus and throughout Saskatoon. Participants in this study emphasized the relationship between the people who made regular use of a space, its overall "feel," and their familiarity with the space with its level of safety, while also making it clear that queer was not always synonymous with safe. These findings yield insight into the process that individuals use to mentally label space and the subsequent ways in which this labelling influences use of space and, on a broader level, reflects individual and group identity. This raises some important questions about current definitions and ideas regarding safe spaces and provides a foundation for future research.