Towards a Cultural Geography of Queer Storytelling through Collective Biography

This research project explores the power and value of queer storytelling through queer collective biographies – illustrated books containing collections of short biographies of LGBTQ+ people, telling the stories of queer lives from across the world, past and present, the famous and the everyday. This interdisciplinary research project brings together cultural geography, literary studies, and sexuality studies to establish a cultural geography of queer storytelling through collective biography which uncovers how these texts communicate knowledge, shape identities, create meaning and impact, and articulate cultural values. Calling for literary geographies to pay attention to the genre of biography, this project uses a relational literary geographies approach, drawing on the conceptual frameworks of ‘text-as-spatial-event’ (Hones, 2008) and ‘book-as-assemblage’ (Anderson, 2015) to present a holistic understanding of ‘queer collective biography-as-assemblage’. This thesis asserts that the meaning and impact of queer collective biographies emerge out of an entangled network encompassing the interactions between an author-text-reader nexus, their relationships with external actors, and their intersections with spaces, and socio-political, cultural, and historical contexts. Methodologically, this thesis brings into conversation textual and visual analysis of eight queer collective biographies and semi-structured interviews with creators (authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers), circulators (teachers, queer bookshop owners, and librarians), and readers. This project uncovers the complexities of writing queer lives, asking whose stories are told and by whom, through conceptualising ‘the queer publishing network’, shaped by concurrent personal motivations and commercial considerations. This thesis explores how queer lives are written, highlighting the challenges of navigating language and labels of queerness, privacy, and absence, when writing and illustrating queer lives, as well as uncovering the shortcomings of collective biography as a genre for telling queer stories. Moreover, this project draws attention to the narratives used to describe queer lives. Findings show that labels of heroes and icons perpetuate homonormativity; there must be critical engagement with the politics of visibility; and there is a need to platform queer joy whilst still attending to the difficult realities of LGBTQ+ life. This thesis attends to the impact and meanings generated through readers’ encounters with books about queer lives through exploring the social, cultural and political possibilities (and limitations) of queer storytelling. It asserts that queer collective biography shapes understandings of identity and queerness in the world; provides affirmative, joyful, and empowering representation; creates a sense of community and belonging; promotes resistance and resilience; and provides an educational resource. Overall, this thesis argues that queer storytelling through collective biography is a powerful and valuable tool in times of crisis, fear, and hostility in the face of uncertain futures created by the anti-LGBTQ+ discourse that permeates UK society today.<p></p>

Author dc:creator

• Leah Shackman (21043862)

• Biography
• Cultural Geography
• LGBTQ+
• Literary Geographies
• Queer
• Storytelling

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved
• Open Access after 2027-03-16

Identifier

10779/exe.31704535.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/31704535