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Apprehending Black Queer Diasporas: a Study of Black Pride Festivals and Their Emplacements

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Apprehending Black Queer Diasporas: a Study of Black Pride Festivals and Their Emplacements Apprehending Black Queer Diasporas: A Study of Black Pride Festivals and Their Emplacements By Christopher Gary Smith A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy Department of Social Justice Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Christopher Gary Smith 2020 Apprehending Black Queer Diasporas: A Study of Black Pride Festivals and Their Emplacements Christopher Gary Smith Doctorate of Philosophy Dept. of Social Justice Education University of Toronto 2020 Abstract “Apprehending Black Queer Diasporas is a historical consideration of Black Pride festivals. Emerging as an alternative to “mainstream” Pride parades, Black Pride has its origins in grass-roots community organizing by Black LGBT+ populations in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in major US metropolitan cities in the early 1990s. As both a celebration of Black LGBT+ life and a space for political organizing, the model of Black Pride would be adopted throughout the United States, and internationally in London, U.K., and South Africa. Examined through a “Black queer diasporic analytic” this dissertation traces the movement of this festival to assess how it was enabled through diasporic affinities among Black LGBT+ populations, globally. Utilizing a transnational comparative approach this study was conducted in three global cities; Toronto, Los Angeles, and London, U.K. Through key informant interviews with the founders of the Black Pride festivals selected, this dissertation offers a cultural history of the festival to capture the political contexts that prompted their emergence. Methodologically, I supplement the ethnographic component with archival research conducted in select LGBT+ archives to assess what the major political priorities were that served as the impetus for Black Pride festivals. Moving between ethnography, cultural history and social and cultural geography ii I discuss the historical origins of the festivals, in tandem with the spatial politics that are engendered when Black LGBT+ communities assert and cultivate communal space. Through a “Black queer diasporic analytic” this project traces the transnational circuits of cultural exchange among Black LGBT+ communities that enabled Black Pride to become a global movement. iii Acknowledgments First and foremost I would like to thank my parents Barbara and Gary Smith who have supported me throughout this process. Their love and encouragement made it possible for me to explore the work I have done, and continue to do. I honor the late Clinton Solomon, and Mervyn Solomon both of which shaped and nurtured my inquisitive mind. Arthur (“Turo”) Solomon passed as this project came to a close. I thank you “Turo” for your raucous sense of humour and unapologetic way of being Black, with wit and a razor sharp tongue. I am grateful to have “de best best uncles”! I am deeply indebted to Dr. Rinaldo Walcott as a scholar, mentor and dear friend. As a mentor you continually challenge me to think otherwise on all matters Black and Queer. That unflinching generosity has nourished me as a scholar for many years, and many to come. I am grateful to my committee members Dr. Dina Georgis, and Dr. Tanya Titchkosky for offering rigorous yet supportive readings of this dissertation in its various stages and I am blessed to call you friends and colleagues. I would like thank Dr. Christina Sharpe (York University), Dr. Chris W. Johnson (University of Toronto), and Dr. Jamie Magnusson (University of Toronto) for being stellar external examiners of this dissertation. The robust conversations we have had about this work encourages me to imagine it will have a life in another form in the future. Many friends and colleagues in the Dept. of Social Justice Education have been a profound source of love and support throughout this journey. Shout out to team RWW! Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, Dr. Cassandra Lord, and Dr. Sarah Stefana Smith – I’s a Dr. too! In a similar fashion, a shout out to Katherine McKittrick, Beverly Bain, and Ronald Cummings for your support of me and this project and for nourishing conversations over the years. There are a special group of people who were part of my cohort that made my journey at University of Toronto memorable and quite a ride. First and foremost, Ricky Varghese my partner in crime and other miscreant acts while at OISE, thank you for your wisdom and your eternal friendship. Second a big shout out to the “Dim Sum crew” in no specific order: Laura Kwak, Natalie Koure-Towe, Chandni Desai, Hannah Dyer, Shaista Patel and iv Kate Milley - (Sarah you got your props already! ). Our communion over great food and laughter over the years kept me sane throughout my time at OISE. At UTSC in Women’s & Gender Studies in the Dept. of Historical & Cultural Studies there are many faculty who nurtured my growth as a scholar and a teacher over the years. My deepest gratitude to you all. There are many, too many people in my life within and outside of academia to list here. We dance, we debate, and we commune with and hold up each other. Every moment is cherished, and you know this every time I smile in your presence. You know who are, and know that you are loved. v Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................... viii List of Appendices ........................................................................................................... ix Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Black Queer Diaspora Genealogies: Elisions, Revisions, Methods ............... 12 Genealogies/Elisions ................................................................................................. 16 Revisions ................................................................................................................... 22 Black Studies/Queer Studies/Diaspora Studies - convergences ............................... 24 Why, how? Towards Black Queer diaspora as a method .......................................... 32 Apprehension as an interpretive frame of Black Queer Space .................................. 42 Chapter 2 Black Pride! Origin Stories, Archives, and Travelling Histories ..................... 45 Historical Contexts, Contestations ............................................................................. 46 Intraventions and “Origin Stories” .............................................................................. 55 Travelling Histories & Route Prints ............................................................................ 61 3.1 BLOCKORAMA ................................................................................................... 65 3.2 UK Black Pride .................................................................................................... 72 Chapter 3 Contingent Emplacements: Black Pride festivals and the spatial/affective politics of queer visibility ............................................................................................ 80 Blackness – Queerness – Space – Affect: A Prolegomenon ..................................... 80 Honoring Earlier Emplacements | Seeing Ourselves ................................................. 87 2.1 The Intimacy of Water in Concrete Geographies ................................................ 89 Spatial Contestations | Bodily Reverberations ........................................................... 93 3.1 Refusals of Displacement & Bodily Reverberations – Blockorama ..................... 94 vi 3.2 Surveilling Black Pleasure, and its queer insistence – At The Beach L.A. ........ 101 3.3 Containing/Holding Black Queer Joy – UK Black Pride ..................................... 106 Chapter 4 Critical and Quotidian Dimensions of Black Queer Tourism and Black Diasporic Travel ....................................................................................................... 112 Critiques of Tourism Studies: Black, Feminist & Queer ........................................... 115 Imagining Black Queer Tourism Studies – Sedgwick’s “Axiomatic” Revisited ......... 120 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 128 References .................................................................................................................. 136 Appendix A - Interview Questionnaire .......................................................................... 144 Appendix B – Open Letter to Pride Toronto (2010) ...................................................... 146 vii List of Figures 1. Blockorama #2 Flyer, 1999 2. UK Black Pride Flyer, 2006 (Courtesy of the London Metropolitan Archives) 3. UK Black Pride Marching in Pride In London, 2013 4. Gay Picnic Toronto Flyer, 1971 5. Gay Pride Picnic Toronto, 1972 6. Blockorama #9 Flyer, 2007 7. Pride – You Belong, Over There, digital image (meme), 2010 8. Blockorama #12 Flyer, “The Fire This Time”, 2010, Back Matter viii List of Appendices Appendix A – Interview Questionnaire Appendix B – Open
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