Homohegemony and the Other: Canada and Jamaica by Kyle Brandon Jackson A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in the Department of Political Studies in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada January, 2015 Copyright © Kyle Brandon Jackson, 2015 Abstract Existing scholarship on LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer/questioning) rights, regulation, “homonationalism,”1 and citizenship fails to consider lesbian and gay inclusion as a hegemonic state ideology. This dissertation addresses this lacuna, with particular attention to Canada and Jamaica. It considers the political implications of near legal equality for gays and lesbians in Canada, not merely in terms of the entrenchment of a regime of sexual citizenship rights culminating in same-sex marriage, but, relatedly, in terms of significant popular consent to the notion of gays and lesbians as equal and included citizens. It theorizes and critically demonstrates “homohegemony,” an ideology of relative inclusion of gay and lesbian citizenship in the national imaginary, in which the state extends selective citizenship rights to the gay and lesbian minority in a benevolent liberal fashion. However, these rights are premised on moments of illiberalism both within and outside the Canadian nation-state. Drawing on a neo-Gramscian understanding of hegemony, these illiberal exclusions may also be seen to characterize homohegemony, ideologically and materially. Once homosexual inclusion in the national imaginary becomes hegemonic, symbolized by the granting of near legal equality through same-sex marriage, longstanding and novel “others” are (re)imagined as exterior to the ideal-typical national community. One illiberal “other” is “homophobic Jamaica,” which functions as a significant constructed counterpoint, or foil, to a newly homohegemonic “national self.” A historical preoccupation with the “homosexual other” within Canada has significantly turned to a fixation on homophobic other nation-states. The ideological construction of Jamaica in particular is persuasive, not least because it bases itself in a degree of truth grounded in real heterosexism. The construction is, however, replete with generalizations, distortions, 1. Jasbir Puar, Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007). ii exaggerations, and omissions, and occurs in the context of historic colonial and other stereotypes. This image of Jamaica invisibilizes a much queerer reality. Homohegemony, both in its veritable benevolent liberal inclusions, and its less commonly appreciated significant illiberal exclusions, is thus set out in a broadly understood Canadian context. That such a context includes the imagination of Jamaica and Jamaicans, within a broader neocolonial relationship, represents a queer development in the history of hegemonic Canadian sexual ideology. iii Acknowledgements So many people have helped me over the course of completing my doctorate, and in terms of finishing this dissertation in particular. First of all, I must acknowledge my family members and friends. You have provided invaluable emotional support and I could not have done this without you. Mom, Dad, and Nate, you have been deep reservoirs of love and encouragement. I would also like to acknowledge and thank both Lynne and Trent. Lynne, being welcomed into your extended family has been a blessing beyond measure in my life. Trent, your generosity in allowing me to stay in Ohio this summer brought the added benefit of helping me appreciate the gravity and import of the “benevolent liberal moment” of LGBTQ inclusion in Canada by way of the contrast of a perceptibly less inclusive American and Ohioan legal and civil societal context. I would further like to acknowledge my four grandparents for paving the way for my own educational attainment. None of them had the opportunity to attend university, and only one went to high school. “Grams,” you are not only my sole surviving grandparent of the “original four,” but a true friend. Thanks for seeing me through to this important point in my life, and for teaching me the value of hanging in there when life gets tough. While I have lost grandparents, I have also gained one; “Lu,” your joie de vivre and warmth have been mainstays in my life for many years now. I am so fortunate to call you my Grandmaman. Timothy Luchies Landertinger, Dilan Okcuoglu, Nadège Compaoré, Andrea Collins, and Chris Samuel, your friendship and solidarity have been most appreciated these past five years. Professor Nigmendra Narain and Lakshmi Narain, thanks for your friendship and for providing me with a place to stay during the final stretch. Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge Harvey. I can honestly say that I would not have finished this dissertation without you by my iv side every step of the way. You might weigh only ten pounds, but you tip the scales in my books. This doctorate and dissertation could not have been completed successfully without the boundless energy, enthusiasm, ideas, and feedback of my supervisor, Dr. Abigail Bakan. You have taught me so much over the course of this doctorate, and have mentored me throughout not simply the dissertation but the whole process of developing into an intellectual of praxis as well. I have learned that a thesis does not arise in the absence of productive intellectual tensions and frustrations. Our ideas sometimes met along the lines of the proverbial “thesis” and “antithesis,” but the resulting synthesis always brought the project to a higher level of conceptual development and theoretical acuity. Your openness to queer politics and the politics of sexuality within political studies, and your continuous injunction to fully follow the research where it took me, have not only made this project possible, but have made it a far better contribution to scholarship than it would have been without your able supervision. I am incredibly grateful for the considerable time and labour you invested in my doctorate and in this dissertation. Thanks also for the good humour we shared along the way! I am also immensely grateful to Dr. Margaret Little. From the time I took your eye- opening Gender and Globalization course, you have been a fount of knowledge and support. I have been able to count on you for words of wisdom about balancing “life” and “the PhD” throughout this journey. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Eleanor MacDonald for standing in for my supervisor at the defence of my thesis. I have learned so much about how to be an engaging professor by being a teaching assistant for your undergraduate course on political ideologies. Thanks for your able assistance in the defence of my thesis about homohegemonic ideology. There are far too many others within the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s to v personally mention and thank here. I am grateful to all of you, professors and administrative staff alike, for supporting me and having confidence in my research and teaching. I am appreciative of Queen’s University and its School of Graduate Studies for institutional support, including fieldwork funding. I am grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for granting me a SSHRC doctoral award. I would further like to acknowledge my students – at both Queen’s and Carleton, in both Political Studies and Gender Studies – for teaching me so very much. I am grateful to the departments of Gender Studies at Queen’s and Political Science at Carleton for offering me additional teaching platforms as an adjunct professor and instructor. A special thank you is owed to Carla Moore, who completed her Master’s in Gender Studies at Queen’s during part of my doctorate. Your assistance was crucial to this project. You familiarized me with the Jamaican context, inspired me with your scholarship and praxis, and enabled a successful trip to Jamaica. I look forward to our collaboration on a future project. Finally, I am sincerely grateful to Angela Pietrobon for her professional assistance with editing in putting together the final dissertation draft. Every writer needs a “second set of eyes,” and Angela’s eyes for editing have 20/20 vision. I would be remiss if I did not also acknowledge the interviewees. I met many of you in Jamaica, where you immediately clarified the meaning and stakes of “homohegemony and the other” for me. I subsequently had the immense privilege of hearing your reflections in detail. You put your trust in me to share your perspectives with readers, even though I was an outsider. You trusted that I would speak to a wider and queerer reality than that contained within dominant ideological constructions. You confirmed for me that queer issues in, and in between, Canada and Jamaica are worth studying for academic and ethical reasons. You are the reason why I have remained convinced throughout the writing process that this dissertation offers an important vi story, one that needs to be told. vii Dedication To my dad, for always keeping me grounded To my mom, for always believing I can fly To my brother, for always picking me up when I fall viii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Dedication ...................................................................................................................................