Rendering a neighbourhood queer

Abstract

This paper traces, and is the traces of, a collective project to render a neighbourhood queer. It is a project that emerges from queer social relations. Academic research and knowledge generation are approached collaboratively by working with queer-identified residents from west-central neighbourhoods in Toronto, Canada who volunteered with the Queer West ShOUT Youth Program. Within the context of two participant-facilitated discussion events, we discursively and artistically investigate queer world-making in the neighbourhood of West Queen West. Through collective mental mapping and photovoice renderings we interpret the queering of urban space as a queer utopian impulse. We critically examine the ‘concrete utopia’ of Queer West Village and question its resonance in the lives of ShOUT volunteers. Theoretically inspired by Muñoz, our ‘a/r/tographic’ mode of inquiry and critical praxis are a rendering of ‘queer futurity.’ We draw on our past to critique our lived present so as to imagine future potentialities. We do so in order to argue that it is vital that the queerness we individually and collectively strive for at the spatial scale of the neighbourhood, such as the process of place-making itself, is grounded in material experience yet remains provisional and an ideality that motivates us.

Creando un barrio gay

Este artículo sigue a y es el vestigio de un proyecto colectivo para crear un barrio gay. Es un proyecto que surge de relaciones sociales gay. La generación de investigación y conocimiento académicos es abordada en colaboración a través del trabajo con residentes identificados como homosexuales en los barrios del oeste y centro de Toronto, Canadá, que se ofrecieron como voluntarios con el Programa Juvenil Queer West ShOUT. Dentro del contexto de discusiones facilitadas por grupos de dos personas, se investiga discursiva y artísticamente el hacer gay en el barrio de West Queen West. A través del uso de mapas conceptuales colectivos y fotovoz (photovoice), se interpreta el hacer un espacio urbano gay como un impulso utópico gay. Se examina críticamente la ‘utopía concreta’ de Queer West Village y se cuestiona su resonancia en la vida de los voluntarios del programa ShOUT. Teóricamente inspirado por Muñoz, nuestro modo a/r/tographic de investigación y praxis crítica son una representación del ‘futuro gay’. El estudio se basa en nuestro pasado para criticar nuestro presente con el fin de imaginar potencialidades futuras. Esto se hace con el fin de argumentar que es vital que la homosexualidad por la cual se lucha individual y colectivamente en la escala espacial del barrio, al igual que el proceso de hacer un lugar en sí, se fundamenta en la experiencia material pero aún sigue siendo provisional y una idealidad que nos motiva.

Rendre un quartier gay

Cet article retrace, et est la trace d'un projet collectif de rendre un quartier gay. C'est un projet qui émerge de relations sociales gays. La recherche universitaire et les connaissances d'une génération sont abordées collectivement en travaillant avec des résidents identifiés en tant que gays des quartiers ouest-centre de Toronto au Canada qui se sont portés volontaires auprès du Queer West ShOUT Youth Program. Dans le contexte de discussions organisées entre deux participants nous enquêtons de façon conversationnelle et artistique sur la fabrication d'un monde gay dans le quartier de West Queen West. A travers des représentations mentales et le processus photovoice, nous interprétons la transformation gay de l'espace urbain comme une impulsion utopique gay. Nous examinons de manière critique « l'utopie concrète » du Village Queer West et interrogeons sa résonance dans les vies des volontaires de ShOUT. Inspiré théoriquement de Muñoz, notre mode “a/r/tographique” d'investigation et notre pratique critique sont une rendition de « futurité gay ». Nous nous inspirons de notre passé pour critiquer notre présent vécu afin d'imaginer des potentiels futurs. Nous faisons cela afin d'arguer qu'il est vital que l'homosexualité que nous ambitionnons individuellement et collectivement à l'échelle spatiale du quartier, comme le processus même de création d'un lieu, soit fondée sur l'expérience matérielle et reste cependant provisoire et une idéalité qui nous motive.

Keywords::

• queering neighbourhoods
• queer utopia
• queer futurity
• community-based research
• mental mapping
• photovoice

Keywords::

• barrios gay
• utopía gay
• futuro gay
• investigación basada en la comunidad
• mapeo mental
• fotovoz

Palabras claves::

• quartier gay
• utopie gay
• futurité gay
• recherche réalisée dans les communautés
• représentation mentale
• photovoice

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants involved in the group art project ‘Queer Urban Space: Imagined, Created, Lived,’ held at the Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre in Parkdale, Toronto in March/April 2011. Without your enthusiastic participation, this scholarly endeavour would not exist. We would also like to acknowledge all the volunteers who have been involved in Queer West and its youth program ShOUT. Feedback on an earlier version of this paper from those who attended and organized the panel ‘Does Sexual Diversity Divide’ at the Research Committee-21, Sociology of Urban and Regional Development, conference held in Amsterdam in July 2011, helped shape this paper. We are especially grateful to Sarah Shepherd who was an enthusiastic part of this project and a co-author of that earlier version. Finally, thanks to three anonymous reviewers for their detailed and insightful comments on a draft of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1.[email protected]

^2.[email protected]

^3. Anglo-American scholarship has theorized that lesbian neighbourhoods are less visible in the urban landscape (Addler & Brenner, 1992; Valentine, 1995). In the British context, Valentine (2002, p. 148) claims that ‘[l]esbian communities have tended to be more radical, politicised, and less materially oriented than gay men which has stymied the development of businesses and bars run for, and by, women’. Other studies have shown that there can be visible lesbian residential and commercial enclaves in American and Canadian cities (Bouthillette, 1997; Podmore, 2006, 2013a, 2013b; Rothenberg, 1995), but that they may change form over time and may be embedded within broader communities (Nash & Bain, 2007).

^4. We thank an anonymous referee for this insight.

^5. It should be noted, however, that gay gentrification is not a uniform process. As work by Castells (1983) on San Francisco and Doan and Higgins (2011) on Atlanta has shown, gentrifying neighbourhoods differ socially, demographically, politically and economically.

^6. These statistics were shared by Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (PARC) management at the ‘Belly Full: A History of Hunger Resistance in Parkdale’ Jane's Walk on 3 May 2014 (http://www.janeswalk.org/canada/toronto/bbelly-full-history-hunger-resistance-parkdale/).

^7. This is a phrase used by ambassadors and members of the PARC to describe survivors of the psychiatric system who have consumed mental health care products. This non-profit organization is a drop-in resource centre and supportive housing provider that was established to work with consumer survivors in the Parkdale community to combat issues of isolation, poverty, food security, homelessness, addictions and mental health.

^8. While the geographical limits of the Queer West Village are fluid, the use of the word ‘village’ also suggests geographic smallness with connotations of social, cultural and familial interconnection and intimacy.

^9. Bloch's abstract utopias are described by Muñoz (2009, p. 3) as ‘banal optimism’ that is ‘untethered from any historical consciousness’ and a larger political project.