(SOM6b) Queering im/migration, place-making, and belonging II

Non-cisheteronormative migrants to Canada face complex, intersectional vulnerabilities as they pursue place-making and belonging, while gender and sexual alterities intersecting with race, ethnicity, class, and sociopolitical status can increase marginalization, economic insecurity, and sociocultural exclusion. Papers in this session focus on the experiences of sexual orientation, gender identity, expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) refugees and other im/migrants as they navigate processes of refuge and settlement. This includes accessing social welfare services, navigating socioeconomic and political precarity, and sociological analysis of border and social policy regimes. Papers also foreground queer/trans/non-binary relationalities, kinships, community re/creation, and belonging. Tags: Gender, Migration and Immigration, Sexuality

Organizers: Sarah Vanderveer, York University, Paulie McDermid, York University; Chairs: Sarah Vanderveer, York University, Paulie McDermid, York University

Presentations

Zachary Gilpin, West Virginia University

Theorizing Queer and Trans* Migrant Experiences Through Materialist Feminism

This paper seeks to advance a theoretical paradigm capable of elucidating the situated experiences of multiply-marginalized queer migrants residing in a transitory state without succumbing to homonormative, homonationalist, or bourgeois assimilationist political ideals. In so doing, I seek to, in the words of Rosemary Hennessy, return “to reproduction queerly” (2006). This paper reflects upon previous empirical work utilizing qualitative research methods to elucidate experiences of queer Central American migrants residing in Tapachula, Mexico. Queer migrants residing in Tapachula, the most prominent town in the western portion of the Guatemala-Mexico border region, endure complex, multi-modal and multi-scalar (im)mobilities in a place-specific matrix of cis-heteronormative state apparatuses, legal precarity, economic marginality, and xenophobia. In this previous work, I drew on feminist geopolitics, materialist feminism, and queer studies to demonstrate that the state of relative (im)mobility is intimately interrelated and co-constitutive of migrants’ sense of place and their (re)articulations of sexual and gender identities. I reflect on this work and argue that materialist feminism offers a fruitful lens through which the experiences of multiply-marginalized people may be explicated without reifying or essentializing historico-geographically specific expressions of socially constructed identities. I use the term materialist in two related senses: first, to refer to a specifically materialist ontology of sociality and, second, in recognition of the academic and political lineage of anti-capitalist feminism which emerged out of historical materialism. I particularly draw on the feminist materialisms of Nancy Fraser and Rahel Jaeggi, as well as the queer historical materialism of Christopher Chitty, to offer an expansive view of capitalism. Fraser’s work on the topology of capitalist society notes that the specifically capitalist mode of production depends upon supports from supposedly extra-economic domains, namely the personal/domestic, the political, and “nature”. Undergirding the abode of production—defined by the legal but coercive exploitation of labor by the owners of the means of production—exists racialized expropriation, gendered/raced/sexed social reproduction, the utilization of nature as both a pool for resources and a sink for economic externalities, and a political realm premised on the atomized bourgeois subject. These social domains remain deeply imbricated and the historical development of various stages of capitalism has involved marked contestations over the exact content of these categories—what Fraser terms “boundary struggles”. I utilize Ara Wilson’s (2004) concept of “intimate economies”—which I define as the production of use values for one’s immediate consumption or for the consumption by others within one’s social network, as well as the interface of such labor with the exchange-value logic of the legal and gray/black market economies—to elucidate the contemporary topology of latest-stage capitalism as experienced by queer Central American migrants and their transnational networks. I then describe queer migrant experiences by drawing on Rahel Jaeggi’s (2016) anti-essentialist explication of the Hegelian/Marxist concept of alienation and argue that such experiences derive, in part, from the particular class compositions of “sexual hegemony” under capitalism (Chitty 2020). In reflecting upon my previous research, I conclude by suggesting that materialist feminism offers a politically adept framework to account for queer migrant experiences by attending to capitalism, social reproduction, and identity formation whilst historicizing these concepts so as to avoid tautological, essentialist, or overly economistic explanations whilst retaining the political economic insights of the Marxist tradition.

Tori Yang, University of British Columbia; Sean Lauer, University of British Columbia

Intersections of Belonging: Friendship Dynamics Among Chinese LGBTQ+ Migrants in Canada and the US

Friendship has been intertwined with the sociology of migration for more than 100 years (Park and Burgess, 1921) with friendships that cross ethnic boundaries being of particular interest. These friendships are often considered a sign of the blurring of ethnic boundaries (Rumbaut 2001). These friendships sometimes cross rather than blur boundaries, developing from an attraction to difference (Yodanis and Lauer 2017). The persistence of prejudice and exclusion also contributes to the maintenance of boundaries and homogeneous friendships (Portes and Zhou 1993). Early assimilation approaches (Gordon 1964) considered the integration of intimate non-familial relationships an indicator of ethnic boundaries no longer being significant. These early approaches view integration into the mainstream as the ultimate outcome of assimilation processes. More recent neo-assimilation approaches emphasize that both majority and minority groups change over time until ethnic distinctions decline (Alba and Nee 2003). Queer migration scholarship takes migration studies’ focus beyond ethnicity and gender to underline the structuring role of sexuality in immigration and integration. Queer migrants often resist a teleological narrative pointing to eventual assimilation by negotiating multiple forms of differences and maintaining hybridity of identities (Manalansan 2003). When it comes to friendship ties in the post-migration context, the intervention by queer migration scholarship poses important questions that have the potential to disrupt the normative bases of belonging naturalized by ethnonational affiliations. For example, in a study of Iranian gay refugees in Canada, Karimi (2018) finds that the intragroup diversity along the axis of sexuality could overshadow the effect of ethnic identity and complicate integration into the ethnoracial community. On the other hand, both Karimi’s research and other studies have provided evidence of how the LGBTQ+ communities in the host country are yet another site of discrimination and exclusion (Cantú 2009; Carrillo 2017; Manalansan 2003), limiting the opportunity to establish connections based on shared sexual identities. Building on this line of research, we provide a systematic comparison of the influence of race and ethnicity with sexuality on migrants’ friendships. Our data come from in-depth interviews with 50 skilled Chinese migrants who currently identify as LGBTQ+ and reside in the United States (n=26) and Canada (n=24). Qualitative data allow us to gain unique insights into the nuanced meaning-making processes behind boundary drawing, perceived discrimination, and identification that complement the predominantly quantitative measurements in the homophily and network literature. We used a two-by-two, gender-by-country-of-residence design using a combination of convenience and snowball sampling strategies. Interview transcripts were analyzed using retroductive coding and thematic analysis. When discussing their friendship networks, most respondents reported that their Chinese identity was more important than their sexuality, in terms of both subjective preference and actual composition. We grouped the preliminary analytical themes to understand the predominance of ethnoracial influence into intra-and inter-group dynamics. The racially homogenous friend network is primarily a result of solidifying inter-group boundaries over time. Even though many initially felt the pressure of assimilation, they gradually recognized racial stratification as a pervasive aspect of their everyday lives in North America. They also interpreted the individualist culture as reducing the need for assimilation. At the same time, intra-group preferences are strong, with many emphasizing the importance of shared language and cultural background in facilitating deeper connections. In comparison, many respondents report much more porous boundaries between heterosexual and LGBTQ+ friends. This is largely consistent with the scholarly discussion of the post-gay context that is marked by an emphasis on sameness over difference along the line of sexual orientation. Intra-community attitudes are divided. While some regard shared sexual orientation as a plus factor, others deliberately avoid extensive friendship within the LGBTQ+ community to avoid “unnecessary drama.” Our study contributes to the growing literature on friendship formation and friendship group composition among migrants in their host countries. In examining the case of queer migration, we enrich our understanding of how migrants negotiate intersectional identities and shifting bases of belonging.

YAN XUE, University of Alberta

Transgender migration in Canada: "trans migration" as a generative approach

Queer migration studies have gained momentum since the 1990s (Luibhid, 2008). The flourishing of scholarships that focus on how queer gender and sexuality shape transnational movements from the Global South to the Global North can be attributed to the development of queer theory and the queering of immigration policies of the Global North (Manalansan, 2006). Transgender migrants are relatively underrepresented compared to gay and lesbian migrants in queer migration studies (Fobear, 2016). There is a critique that 'queer' in queer migration studies become increasingly equated with homosexuality at the cost of marginalizing other gender and sexual variant subjects (Luibhid, 2008). In this paper, I will first review the scant but growing literature on transgender migrants in Canada. Then, I will discuss the concept of transmigration as an important lens for expanding queer migration studies. The majority of Canadian transgender migration studies focus on refugee claimants compared to trans migrants of other immigration statuses, such as visitors, international students, and workers (E. O. J. Lee et al., 2021). Studies on transgender migrants from Asian countries are limited (Tamagawa, 2019). Findings show that while transgender migrants feel more secure with their transgender expressions in Canada (Fobear, 2016), they also have encountered issues of unmet health needs (Fobear, 2016), underemployment (Le et al., 2020), homelessness (McDowell and Collins, 2023), and isolation (W. J. E. Lee, 2015). The structural racism, xenophobia, sexism, and classism and the geopolitics between Canada and transgender migrants' countries of origin make them differentially vulnerable to the issues mentioned above (Jacob and Oswin, 2023). Meanwhile, findings indicate that transgender migrants must navigate complicated forms of ex/inclusion across multiple communities: Canadian mainstream society, queer communities, and co-ethnic/national communities (Lee et al., 2021). Transgender migrants from similar national and cultural backgrounds form close connections and share material and emotional forms of support, supplemented with those from back home (Butler Burke, 2016). Vartabedian (2018) argues that the particularity of the transmigration concept lies in that it connotes not only a spatial journey that traverses the national border through bodily movements but also an embodied journey that transits the gender border through bodily modification. The prefix trans is assigned with meanings of both transitioning and traversing and implies an analogy between transgender transition and immigration (Cotten, 2012). The metaphorical tradition of this analogy can be traced back to transsexual narratives (Bhanji, 2012). Jay Prosser (1999, 88) notes that "an appropriate analogical frame for the transsexual's writing of transition as a journey may be that of immigration." I argue that by foregrounding the embodied experiences of transgender transition during the forced transnational movement, transmigration as a generative conceptual framework contributes to queer migration studies that have been predominantly focusing on identity development and behavioural changes of homosexual migrants. Furthermore, I contend that findings of Canadian transgender migration studies dispute a more liberal conceptualization of transmigration as linear, teleological movements from disembodiment and oppression in the home country to embodiment and freedom in the host country. Instead, the findings add a critical edge to the concept that juxtaposed gender integrity and social mobility are attainable only for a few transgender migrants because of the interlocking structural discriminations in the post-migration contexts.

Paulie McDermid, York University

Dragging the border. Refugee/migrant agency, belonging, and drag person(a)s.

Nationalist anxieties around borders in Canada and other ‘Western’ countries regularly generate dehumanizing political discourses that position refugee and other migrant people as threats to the imagined integrity of the nation. These hostile discourses translate into racialized border policies and reception practices that readily fold some bodies into the nation while many others are habitually excluded from belonging. Meanwhile, in the past few years, right-wing extremist attacks on trans/non-binary/queer people across Canada, the US, and other countries have proliferated. These attacks have often taken the form of anti-trans laws and political hostility which have brought drag artists directly into the firing line. Notably, events where drag artists read stories for children have been targeted. Such attacks have sought to dehumanize drag artists (and trans folks) as gender ‘monsters’ who endanger children and thus threaten via the figure of the Child the nation’s future. Consequently, both refugees/migrants and drag artists face dehumanizing social and political exclusion from (national) belonging. This presentation will share some findings from a recent qualitative doctoral study in which drag artists who migrated to or sought refuge in Canada describe what creating a drag persona means for their refugee/migrant subjectivities, how they assert agency in the face of dehumanizing hostility, and how they foster belonging for themselves and others. Uniquely, this study highlights the utility of looking at refuge and migration through the lens of drag in two critical areas. Firstly, refugee studies scholarship has problematized the denial of agency to the ‘forced’ migrant (e.g., Stepputat and Sørensen, 2014) resulting in the production of an essentialized refugee ‘victim’ (Malkki, 1995); a non-agentive ‘non-person’, timeless and placeless, who is the object of ‘Western’ rescue (Kyriakides et al., 2018, 2019). Meanwhile, other migrants are positioned as threatening and ‘bogus’ figures with an excess of agency, shopping around for the best country to which to move (Bakewell, 2010). In response to these constructions, scholars, including queer and trans migration specialists, have noted the agentive and strategic deployment of a performative ‘refugeeness’ (e.g., Fassin and Salcedo, 2015; Häkli et al., 2017; Murray, 2015). This study takes up intentionality and performativity in drag performance (Butler, 1999) to re-examine issues of refugee/migrant agency. Secondly, and following on from these observations about the ‘refugee’ as a diminished category of ‘person’, the study considers the question of who is a ‘person’ in light of what refugee/migrant drag artists have to say about their invented personas. This discussion will draw on ideas about the relationship of ‘person’ to persona from thinkers such as Hannah Arendt (1951, 1969) and Roderick Ferguson (2019) to situate the social and political life of refugee/migrant drag artists within a framework of relational subjectivity as sketched by psychologist Augustine Nwoye (2007) and feminist geographer Sage Brice (2020). Building on relational subjectivity, livable spaces of belonging for the drag artists in this study are both cultivated in the present, via non-queer and queer familial formations, and projected into the future, through intergenerational non-normative reproduction (Gogul, 2018). In such ways, refugee and other migrant drag artists firmly push back on exclusion and hostility in social and political domains.