Through lenses of social movement theories, queer theory, intersectionality, performativity, and performance theory, my study employed a qualitative queer(y)ing methodology to explore how three queer theatre festivals contribute to the production of knowledge and learning, community building, and leadership and activism in the queer social movement in Canada. The queer theatre festivals included the Rhubarb festival, Toronto; Pretty, Witty and GAY!, Lethbridge; and OUTstages, Victoria. Data collection methods included participant observation through festival attendance, a postcard survey, and semistructured interviews with festivalgoers, performers, and festival organizers.
Findings show that festivalgoers learned through spoken words and visuals of the performances and their embodied/somatic reactions to the performances, self-reflection, collective discourse and reflection, festival design elements, self-learning following the festivals, and from creating a performance and performing. The learning that resulted had significant impacts on festivalgoers including empathy development, therapeutic and healing benefits, a sense of hope, allyship development, and personal transformation. The festivals’ wider societal benefits were found to be increased queer visibility in the communities; the power to shift societal attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour; and economic benefits. The study sheds light on the leadership potential of queer cultural activists and artists (artivist-leaders) as it reveals how the festivals’ act as powerful cultural producing sites with individual and social transformation and learning possibilities. Finally, the study’s findings provide evidence that rejects the claim that a new queer social movement exists and is distinct from the traditional gay and lesbian social movement. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/12530 |
| Date | 06 January 2021 |
| Creators | Chaffe, Alan |
| Contributors | Clover, Darlene E. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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