the Politics and Pleasures of Queer Life in the Far North
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In mainstream culture, queerness has and continues to be a phenomenon associated with large urban centers. Simultaneously, the North has been understood as a cold, desolate, and barren place. Despite these connotations, the North is a vibrant place with strong queer communities. This thesis asks what queer worlds exist in the far North and what would it mean to theorize queerness from the North, and rather from places like New York which has become commonplace. I will seek to undo these two common misconceptions by illustrating that vibrant queer worlds not only just exist in the far North, but deeply intersect with overarching social justice and decolonization efforts there. Queer culture in North America has long grappled with debates around normalization, rainbow capitalism, and the extent to which the struggle for queer liberation overlaps with other causes. Centering a Northern approach to queerness, the rest of the world can learn much about how to practice queer activism in solidarity with other social justice causes. Using Yellowknife NWT and Fairbanks AK as a case study, this thesis will examine existing forms of queer activism, and explore how these organizations tackle overarching issues that face Northern life, not just single issue challenges to the LGBTQ community. It will explore not just their relations with their own society, but the rest of the world as well, to see where things differ, and what lessons the rest of the world can learn from the North. Following this, this thesis will also explore the limits of progressive Northern politics, and how much they really matter if Northern cities still lack fun, social, and sexual opportunities for queer youth.
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Smaldone_gwu_0075M_17331.pdf | 2025-07-20 | Open Access |
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