Barbara Grabher GRACE – Gender and Cultures of Equality University of Hull Cottingham Road Hull HU67RX UK
[email protected] The privilege of subversion. Reading experiences of LGBT-themed events during Hull UK City of Culture 2017 through liminality. This is an accepted Manuscript (Pre-print version) of a book chapter published by Palgrave Macmillian in Liminality and Critical Event Studies Borders, Boundaries, and Contestation (May 2020), available online: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030402556 Please, do not cite without permission. To cite the final, published version of this paper: Grabher, B. (2020). The privilege of subversion. Reading experiences of LGBT-themed events during Hull UK City of Culture 2017 through liminality. In Lamond, I. & Moss, J. (Ed.) Liminality and Critical Event Studies: Boundaries, Borders, and Contestation. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 79-98. The Privilege of Subversion Manuscript Barbara Grabher ABSTRACT In this paper, Grabher examines Turner’s theory of liminality in the context of queer political aspirations of LGBT-themed events. The week-long event series entitled LGBT50, part of Hull’s celebration of the title UK City of Culture in 2017, serves as a case study. Grabher draws on Turner’s concept in light of the widely discussed transformative potential of the event. As the concept proposes a suspension of hegemonic structures and exploration of alternative models of living, the researcher regards the empirical realities of the LGBT50 celebrations through ethnographic research practices. Hereby, she correlates considerations of cultural actors and visitors in a call for a more nuanced understanding of the transformative potential of queer-labelled events.