Playing at the queer edges

Abstract

Through autoethnography, queer theory and edgework, I examine Wild Ginger Witchcamp, an annual five‐day event where one hundred or so people gather to celebrate shared politics, spirituality and environmental concerns. I include narratives of lived experience, woven and layered into the text to illuminate the complex realities of leisure that extends beyond resisting the normative to one of the nurturing alternatives. The social health of a community depends on the community’s ability to publicly affirm itself, and it is critical that a community find a way to transmit and transform its culture. Queer theory, the related constructs of heteronormativity and counterpublics, along with edgework, can help us understand the importance of communal and culturally relevant leisure particularly for individuals and communities that do not see themselves reflected in the dominant culture.

Keywords:

• autoethnography
• edgework
• festival
• heteronormative
• Pagan
• queer
• spirituality
• witchcraft
• counterpublic