VIOLENCE DENIED, BODIES ERASED: TOWARDS AN INTERLOCKING SPATIAL FRAMEWORK FOR QUEER ANTI-VIOLENCE ORGANIZING by Cindy Holmes B.A., University of Waterloo, 1990 M.A., Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/ University of Toronto, 2000 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) November 2012 © Cindy Holmes, 2012 Abstract The research undertaken for this dissertation applies an interlocking spatial framework to the study of anti-violence strategies in queer communities in Canada, with a focus on British Columbia specifically. Drawing on anti-colonial feminist and queer activism and scholarship, it examines the implications of different ways of framing violence and space and their material effects. It encourages scholars and activists to expand the way we conceptualize and respond to violence, by examining the interlocking nature of different forms of violence and the spaces in which the violence occurs. This research asks: What are the stories that queer anti-violence organizers tell about the violence in our lives? What do these stories do? What, and whom do they make im/possible or in/visible, and how do they do this? What stories are told about place and space and what kinds of understandings of violence are made possible or erased through these imagined geographies? What strategies exist for resisting normative narratives and frameworks? To examine these questions, I focus on a discursive analysis of texts as well as on key social and historical moments through which I also engage in autoethnographic approaches. I critically analyze discourses in various texts including interview and focus group transcripts, lesbian anti-violence curricula, pamphlets and booklets, print and web- based news articles, a website for an urban development proposal, and a report from a human rights tribunal. To do this, I use an interdisciplinary framework, drawing on methodological tools from Women’s Studies, Geography, Social Work and Sociology. The research critiques the colonial, racialized, heteronormative and homonormative discursive practices and politics in queer and feminist anti-violence movements, and ii examines how different geographies and forms of violence, such as intimate partner violence and hate-motivated violence, are linked to the violence of imperialism, colonialism and nation-building. It also challenges normative and neoliberal constructions of subjectivity, health, safety, violence, belonging and citizenship in community-based feminist and queer anti-violence initiatives. My analysis reveals the way whiteness is produced through homonormative discourses, and offers anti-colonial and anti-normative strategies for change within feminist and queer anti-violence movements. iii Preface As per policy of UBC College of Graduate Studies, this preface gives a list of any publications or submissions arising from work presented in the dissertation. It was my original intention to use the UBC manuscript-based dissertation format (University of British Columbia, 2008), however in 2010 the university changed the policy and removed this format. I discuss this further in Chapter One. The following publications arise from my dissertation research: 1) A version of Chapter Five has been previously published. Sections from the published article also appear in Chapter One. I am the sole author and all research and writing was conducted by me. Holmes, C. (2009). Destabilizing homonormativity and the public/private dichotomy in lesbian domestic violence discourses. Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, 16 (1), 77-95. 2) A version of Chapter Six has been previously published. I am the sole author and all research and writing was conducted by me. Holmes, C. (2011). Troubling normalcy: Examining constructions of healthy relationships in lesbian domestic violence prevention. In J. Ristock (Ed.), Intimate partner violence in LGBTQ lives (pp. 209-231). New York: Routledge. 3) Sections from Chapter Seven have been previously published. While I am first author, the writing and research was shared equally between myself and the second author Anne iv Fleming. In cases where I include material written by Anne in this dissertation, I specifically make note of this in the text. Holmes, C. & Fleming, A. (2009). The move. In R. Epstein (Ed.), Who’s your daddy and other writings on queer parenting (pp. 251-261) Toronto: Sumach Press. v Table of Contents Abstract .........................................................................................................................ii Preface ..........................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents .........................................................................................................vi List of Figures...............................................................................................................ix Acknowledgements........................................................................................................ x Dedication....................................................................................................................xii Chapter One: Introduction - Reconceptualizing Violence and Resisting Normative Frameworks .......................................................................................... 1 Re-conceptualizing Violence ............................................................................... 6 Entry Points....................................................................................................... 10 Themes Explored............................................................................................... 12 The Challenges of Defining a Conceptual Framework in Interdisciplinary Research ...................................................................................................... 15 Dissertation Structure ........................................................................................ 17 Organization of Chapters ................................................................................... 18 Chapter Two: Intersectional and Interlocking Theories ........................................... 21 The Meanings of Intersectionality...................................................................... 26 Contexts, Case Studies, Events .......................................................................... 31 Tensions and Limitations................................................................................... 35 Interlocking Theory ........................................................................................... 39 An Argument for Interlocking............................................................................ 47 Chapter Three: Research on Violence in LGBTQ Communities.............................. 50 Intimate Partner Violence in LGBTQ Communities........................................... 51 Understanding the Problem: Forms of Abuse..................................................... 51 Prevalence and Research Contexts..................................................................... 53 Limitations with Research ................................................................................. 56 Conceptual Frameworks for Explaining Same-Sex/Gender Partner Violence ..... 60 Conceptual Frameworks for Explaining IPV in the Lives of Trans People ......... 63 Conceptualizing Contexts .................................................................................. 70 Anti-LGBTQ Violence ...................................................................................... 80 Accessibility and Systemic Barriers................................................................... 88 Summary........................................................................................................... 89 Chapter Four: Theoretical Framework and Methodologies ..................................... 92 Part One: Research Questions............................................................................ 93 vi Part Two: Interdisciplinary Theoretical Framework ........................................... 94 Feminist Poststructuralism ..................................................................... 95 Discourse and Power.............................................................................. 97 Regimes of Truth ................................................................................... 99 Discourse and Subjectivity................................................................... 101 Power and Normalization..................................................................... 103 Anti-Colonial and Critical Whiteness Theories..................................... 104 Anti-Colonial Queer............................................................................. 108 Subjectivity and Space ......................................................................... 114 Part Three: Qualitative Research Design and Methods..................................... 121 Data Collection .................................................................................... 120 Case Studies......................................................................................... 122 Case study #1: White lesbian/queer anti-violence educators in Vancouver BC ...................................................................