The everyday lives of LGBTQ peoples

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) peoples’ lives are constructed day by day through our encounters with self and others; through our beliefs, fears, hopes, expectations, emotions; through the ordinary. Stewart[1] writes: ‘The ordinary is a shifting assemblage of practices and practical knowledges, a scene of both liveness and exhaustion, a dream of escape or of the simple life.’ Yet, our everyday experiences, our encounters with the mundane and the ordinary, are often overlooked within the social sciences.

This reading group explores what it means to think about LGBTQ peoples through the everyday to better understand the lived experiences of LGBTQ individuals, how ‘the ordinary’ is constructed, and how it affects broader social aspects such as education, employment, relationships, parenting issues, health issues, immigration patterns, housing, eligibility for social programmes, finances, and safety. We’ll look at different sources from contemporary history, literature, film, health, and legal scholarship, to understand the subtle, often unnoticed implications that being LGBTQ has on everyday lives.

The reading group is aimed at anyone interested in LGBTQ scholarship, intersectionality, sexuality, and gender studies, amongst other disciplines. It will run from January to June 2019, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm on the last Friday of the month at the following venues.

If interested, please email Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans, Research Fellow in the Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry to book your space or to know more. edgar.rodriguez-dorans@ed.ac.uk