Perimeters, Performances and Perversity: The Creation and Success of a Gay Community in Madrid, Spain

This dissertation utilizes the gay neighborhood of Chueca as the foci for understanding the rise of public gay identity in Madrid and Spain. By "reading" the urban space and coupling that reading with information gathered from ethnographic and historical methodologies, my work sheds light on the role of globalization in sexual identity, draws connections between changes in socio-political circumstances and the rise of public gay identity, and explores how gay men understand and use urban spaces in order to engage fluid and fixed sexual subjectivities. This dissertation, a product of over two years of living and researching in Chueca, Madrid, Spain, is informed by themes of: globalization of sexual identity; the relationships between sexual identity, consumption and popular culture; the use and sometimes abuse of urban space for the fomentation of sexual identity in personal lives, politics and public awareness; and, of course, the problems facing a 'native' and yet, foreign anthropologist in a globalized Western European city. Overall, the study addresses how the urban space of Chueca is understood, utilized, and taken advantage of by the gay community in Madrid; and the repercussions, and consequences evident from 1975, the time of Spain´s transition to democracy (La Transición) to one year after the 2005 legalization of gay marriage in Spain.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Anthropology

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Arizona.

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Adams-Thies, Brian Luke

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mendoza-Denton, Norma

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hill, Jane
• Green, Linda
• Ortiz, Jr., David

• urban anthropology
• sexuality
• homosexuality
• Spain
• Madrid
• globalization

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Language dc:language.iso

EN

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194419

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/194419