2,288
Views
30
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

I think it’s very much placed on us’: Black queer men laboring to forge community at a predominantly White and (hetero)cisnormative research institution

Pages 800-816 | Received 31 May 2016, Accepted 11 Dec 2016, Published online: 11 Sep 2017
 

Abstract

The sociopolitical conditions in which Black queer college men exist in often marginalize them from fully participating in and engaging with the entire campus community. Some researchers suggest that Black queer men (BQM) create counterspaces on-campus to contend with their marginalization as racial, gender, and sexual minorities. This study explores the collegiate experiences of BQM who forged community and strong interpersonal relationships through a peer-support group. Using intersectionality and queer theoretical frameworks, this study interrogates heteronormativity, cisnormativity, and racism that BQM experiences within postsecondary settings.

Notes

1. The term queer shows up in various contexts throughout this paper. Queer works as an identity marker to destabilize normative conceptions of gender and sexuality. Deployed as a politic, queer moves beyond the boundaries of an identity marker, making the term useful in examining one’s social location to power and key state interest. As an analytic, queer centers non-normative sexual and gendered behaviors, expressions, and discourses from the margins, giving the term potential to deconstruct heteronormativity. Conversely, queer works to destabilize homonormativity by disrupting fixed ideologies of non-heterosexual subjects as a monolithic entity. The term is used in this paper to describe both sexual and gender subjectivities typically deemed deviant by society.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.