Queer refugees in Geneva
an emotional map of Geneva showcasing the intimate places that the research participants chose to share.
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The figure of the queer refugee, defined as crossing borders to escape oppression because of their belonging to sexual and gender minorities, has recently gained visibility on the international human rights agenda. While queer migration studies have highlighted the ambivalent space queer exiles occupy in most discourses, being both suspects of wanting to pass as queer to claim asylum and subjects fleeing persecution worthy of protection, little research has focused on the ordinary spaces queer migrants navigate in their host countries. However, in aim to combat the spatial dimension of social inequalities, particularly in terms of access to public space and its amenities, it is necessary to take account of the experiences of queer migrant people.
Based on the Geneva case, this research project directed by Karine Duplan (SNSF grant no. 221128) has been conducted in partnership with a Geneva-based support centre that provides assistance to people who have been forced to migrate. The research draws on an original participatory methodology that combines a series of sensory urban ethnography methods to allow for a closer account of the voices and embodied experiences of these marginalized subjects. Three main complementary research aims structured the research:
1. Mapping the spaces in which queer exiles, as both sexual and cultural strangers with no legal status, navigate on a daily basis.
2. Analysing the strategies of place making of queer migrants, highlighting their spatial and bodily agency and how this translates into a paradoxical sense of belonging.
3. Highlighting the spatial knowledge of these actors whose expertise regarding the city remains overlooked.
▻https://www.unige.ch/sciences-societe/recherche/projets-de-recherche/?id=1648
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