Cultural Archipelagos: New Directions in the Study of Sexuality and Space

Abstract

Research on sexuality and space makes assumptions about spatial singularity: Across the landscape of different neighborhoods in the city, there is one, and apparently only one, called the gayborhood. This assumption, rooted in an enclave epistemology and theoretical models that are based on immigrant migration patterns, creates blind spots in our knowledge about urban sexualities. I propose an alternative conceptual framework that emphasizes spatial plurality. Drawing on the location patterns of lesbians, transgender individuals, same‐sex families with children, and people of color, I show that cities cultivate “cultural archipelagos” in response to the geo‐sexual complexities that arise from within‐group heterogeneity. Rather than inducing spatially singular or scholastic outcomes, as some scholarship predicts, subgroup variations produce diverse yet distinct types of queer spaces. The analytic frame of cultural archipelagos suggests more generally that we cannot categorize urban or social worlds using simple binaries such as “the gayborhood” versus all other undifferentiated straight spaces. Thinking in terms of plurality provides a more generative approach to advance the study of sexuality and space.

Queer Pop–Ups: A Cultural Innovation in Urban Life

“…What we conclude about urban sexualities will depend on the cases we select and our area of focus (Brown ; Ghaziani ; Ghaziani ; Stone ). The cultural significance of the gayborhood and gay bars is changing in Vancouver, as it is in other cities around the world (Martel ), but queer communal and social life is still thriving.…”

“…By introducing pop‐ups into urban, culture, and sexuality research programs, we call scholars to embrace a “temporary turn” in our research in which we develop an agenda that better theorizes the relationship between ephemerality and placemaking. Similar to the cultural archipelagos (Ghaziani ) that are emerging in many cities, pop‐ups are spatial expressions of queer life that thrive beyond the gayborhood. They suggest that placemaking efforts are not limited to gay districts or gay bars.…”

“…Vancouver displays a pattern of “cultural archipelagos” and “spatial plurality” (Ghaziani ) with its two queer urban centers: Davie Village, located in the West End, and Commercial Drive in East Vancouver (Bouthillette ; Lo and Healy ; Murray ; Ross and Sullivan ). Adjacent to the downtown financial center, Davie Village caters primarily to middle‐ and upper‐class white, gay, cis men, while The Drive, an economically modest “counter‐cultural, lesbian and leftist” hub flanked by an industrial waterfront, is inhabited by a higher proportion of female lesbians, trans‐ and genderqueer folks (Ley and Dobson :2487).…”

Cultural Archipelagos or Planetary Systems

“…Perhaps a solar system with planets rotating around a sun is a more apt metaphor for LGBTQ residents and residential areas, spinning and circling iconic queer spaces. Indeed, Ghaziani () suggests a broader vision with his use of the term spatial singularity: “The assumption of spatial singularity veils our ability to see, let alone theorize, the relationship between multiple [queer] areas.”…”

“…Amin Ghaziani's important new article () in this special symposium suggests that researchers studying traditional gay villages need to expand their horizons. While gay villages (or “gayborhoods”) were important components of social and political developments in the wake of the gay liberation movement (Boyd ; Castells ; Chauncey ; Newton ; Stryker and Van Buskirk ; Weston ), they have attracted a considerable amount of research to the detriment of other types of LGBTQ neighborhoods and more broadly habitation patterns.…”