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Being a Queer and/or Trans Person of Colour in the UK: Psychology, Intersectionality and Subjectivity PDF

270 Pages·2017·1.67 MB·English
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Being a Queer and/or Trans Person of Colour in the UK: Psychology, Intersectionality and Subjectivity Stephanie Davis A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Brighton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2017 Abstract This research looks at the emergence of queer and trans people of colour (QTPOC) activist groups in the UK, considering the tensions around inclusion and belonging across lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) and of colour communities for these individuals. The research sought to explore what QTPOC activism means in the UK context, how it operates and for what purpose; the ways QTPOC activisms support the negotiation and affirmation of marginalised sexual, gender, racial identities and/or help navigate racism, queerphobia and transphobia; and in what ways personal involvement with QTPOC activisms impact subjectivity. The research was grounded in a critical psychology approach, firmly situating QTPOC within wider social, political and historical contexts to understand how subjectivities were formed and shaped. Drawing on postcolonial and black feminist theory, the research emphasised coloniality and the postcolonial context of the UK as well as utilising an intersectional lens to explore the intersections of race, gender and sexuality at the macro and micro levels. Inspired by Johnson’s (2015) psychosocial manifesto, the research also focused on ontology and the feeling, embodied experience of being-in-the-world. Knit ting together postcolonial, black feminist and queer theory alongside critical psychology a novel phenomenological interpretative framework was developed which attended to both the wider contexts and the everyday lived experience of being a queer and trans person of colour involved in QTPOC activism. Utilising interventions into phenomenology by Fanon (1986) and Ahmed (2006) a queerly raced hermeneutic phenomenological analysis was developed. This was used to analyse the data from focus group and photo elic itation interviews with participants from three different QTPOC groups across the UK. The research highlighted QTPOC experiences of exclusion from mainstream LGBTQ communities and of non -belonging as a racialized, gendered, sexualized Other within the post colonial British context. Participants shared the difficulties of finding the language to understand their own lived experiences within a society orientated around and towards white (hetero)normativity. QTPOC activist 2 groups were experienced as spaces of belonging; in which to disidentify from white heteronormativity; of affirmation; and in which one could begin to decolonise gender and sexuality. The difficulties of activist organising were also considered; the privileging of paranoid reading and how to manage conflict and abuse, the possibilities of reparative reading (Sedgwick, 2003) and how to relate to histories of politically Black struggle. This is the first research of its kind to explore QTPOC activism in the UK. It will be of interest to critical psychology, psychosocial and gender and sexuality scholars to explore intersectionality and coloniality and the postcolonial further. The development of an original and creative phenomenological interpretative framework will be of interest to researchers exploring the lived experiences of those racialized, and of minoritized gender and sexuality. It provides recommendations for further research and interventions into practice for counsellors, third sector organisations and activists. 3 Contents Acronyms and definitions ........................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 8 Declaration ................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter One: Queer and Trans People of Colour in the U ..K................................. 10 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 10 Situating Queer and Trans People of Colour within Histories of Struggle in the UK ......................................................................................................................... 13 Reviewing the limited research into Queer and Trans People of Colour ............ 25 Conclusion and summary of chapters .................................................................. 29 Chapter Two: QTPOC and critical psychological engagements with gender, sexuality and race .................................................................................................... 31 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 31 The History of Critical Psychology ....................................................................... 31 Orientations to race, gender and sexuality in psychology and cr itical psychology .............................................................................................................................. 41 Intersectionality: Threading race, gender and sexuality together in critical psychology ............................................................................................................ 51 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 55 Chapter Three: Developing a theoretical framework for understanding the lived experience of being - in- the- world for queer and trans people of co .l.o..u..r......... 57 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 57 Emphasising coloniality and the intersections of gender, race, and sexuality .... 57 Intersectionality, queer and psychodynamic theory and the lived experiences of negotiating the intersections ................................................................................. 61 Subjectivity, intersectionality and psychodynamic theory ................................ 61 Navigating intersectional lived experience ....................................................... 67 Queer Race and Phenomenological Analysis ..................................................... 73 What is hermeneutic phenomenology? ............................................................ 73 Queer and critical race phenomenological interventions ................................. 79 Conclusion: Drawing together psychodynamic the ory and a queerly raced hermeneutic phenomenological analysis ............................................................. 84 Chapter Four: Developing a methodology ............................................................... 86 Methodology: A queerly raced hermeneutic phenomenological analysis ........... 87 Ethics .................................................................................................................. 103 4 Researcher Reflexivity........................................................................................ 107 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 111 Chapter Five: Understanding the QTPOC group experiential perspective ........... 112 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 112 Theme 1: Naming and Defining the Self and Collective ‘QTPOC’ .................... 112 Theme 2: Being Excluded .................................................................................. 121 Theme 3: QTPOC groups provide social support .............................................. 126 Theme 4: Negotiating and Developing QTPOC Identities ................................. 133 Theme 5: QTPOC Mental and Physical Wellbeing ............................................ 139 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 141 Chapter Six: Belonging .......................................................................................... 142 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 142 Disconnection ..................................................................................................... 142 Saying the unsayable ......................................................................................... 148 Belonging and racial melancholia ...................................................................... 151 Chapter Seven: Being in community and developing a critical [decolonising] consciousness ........................................................................................................ 160 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 160 Theme 2: QTPOC space of belonging and affirmation ...................................... 160 Theme 3: Developing a critical decolonising con sciousness ............................ 170 Theme 4: Difficulties of being in community ...................................................... 179 Chapter Eight: Conclusion ..................................................................................... 191 Limitations ........................................................................................................... 198 Recommendations and future directions ........................................................... 200 References ............................................................................................................. 203 Appendices ............................................................................................................. 216 Appendix 1 .......................................................................................................... 216 Appendix 2 .......................................................................................................... 217 Appendix 3 .......................................................................................................... 221 Appendix 4 .......................................................................................................... 224 Appendix 5 .......................................................................................................... 227 Appendix 6 .......................................................................................................... 230 Appendix 7 .......................................................................................................... 233 Appendix 8 .......................................................................................................... 234 5 Appendix 9 .......................................................................................................... 236 Appendix 10 ........................................................................................................ 239 Appendix 11 ........................................................................................................ 249 Appendix 12 ........................................................................................................ 259 Appendix 13 ........................................................................................................ 262 Appendix 14 ........................................................................................................ 267 Appendix 15 ........................................................................................................ 269 6 Acronyms and definitions BME: Black Minority Ethnic LGBTQ: Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer QTPOC: Queer and Trans People of Colour QTIPOC: Queer, Trans and Intersex People of Colour Cisgender or ‘cis’: People who are not transgender; those whose gender aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth. 7 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the queer and trans people of colour groups and individuals who kindly took part in this research and who graciously shared their lived experiences with me. I am incredibly grateful for the support and guidance of my supervisory team. Thank you to Katherine Johnson, Hannah Frith and Nichola Khan for encouraging my academic and intellectual development. Thank you to my mentor, Catherine Wilson, for your warmth, understanding, expertise and kind support. Finally, thank you to Arlie Adlington, Linda and Gez Davis, and Sophie and Bobby Anderson-Davis for sustaining me through the highs and the lows and the bits in between. 8 Declaration I declare that the research contained in this thesis, unless otherwise formally indicated within the text, is the original work of the author. The thesis has not been previously submitted to this or any other university for a degree, and does not incorporate any material already submitted for a degree. Signed Dated 9

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