Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on LGBT studies
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Southern Je Ne Sais Quoi: An Intrinsic Portraiture Study Chronicling the Lived Experiences of Black Gay/Queer Men in the “Black Belt” Region of Alabama
Shelton K. Johnson
ABSTRACT:
Culture writes the U.S. South’s menu, defines character, and determines the acceptable alternatives; thus Sears (1990) suggest that critical attention must be paid to the formation of sexual identities in the United States South. Undoubtedly, the U.S. South is a space of symbolic history, traditions, cultures, and social/racial turmoil that has shaped the social, political, economic, and ideological contexts of the United States. Notably, the Alabama Black Belt Region has been a social, political, and cultural mecca since the early 1800’s and has been home to generations of Black people; however, the region in all its shame and glory is often overlooked and unexamined in scholarly research. In addition, there is a subcommunity of people in this region whose lived experiences have not been examined—Black, gay/queer men. Resultingly, the purpose of this study is to explore how Black gay/queer men in the Alabama Black Belt region story their intersecting racial, gendered, and sexual identities and related lived experiences and how they describe the relationship between their communities and their identities. Using qualitative methodologies, I conducted semi-structured interviews and then used portraiture to co-construct the narratives of each individual and subsequently analyze the data. Findings reveal several elements significantly impact their sexual identity formation. The major themes that emerged from the storytellers’ narratives are ideas of “home”, the absence of safety in the “home”, religious ideology and the Black church, and gender performance, conformity, and non-conformity to gender norms. Lastly, in this study recommendations are offered in reference to challenging heteronormativity, securing agency, and expanding educational and liberatory praxis.
keywords: cultural studies; identity formation; intersectionality; queer of color critique; sexuality