Queer Spatiality

Abstract

This qualitative study analyzes interview data with 12 Queer adults living in rural communities in one New England state in the United States. The paper determines how, if at all, participants implement resistant tactics, as defined by de Certeau, to navigate digital and physical spaces. Previous research on Queer rural spaces challenges metronormativity by showing that many Queer people make happy homes in rural communities (Gray, 2009; Schweighofer, 2016). Research into Queer rural communities challenges the established parallels between the metaphorical move from in-the-closet to coming out and the physical move from rural community to urban space. This study goes a step further by intertwining information practice with Queer rural space. The findings indicate that participants did use a range of resistant tactics, including 1) using digital space to resist gentrification, 2) engaging in rural communities as communities of care, and 3) leveraging digital space to build Queer communities amid disappearing queer spaces.

Keywords

• community building
• information practices
• LGBTQ+
• queer
• rural communities