From LGBTQ risk navigation to criminological theory: Is contested space queer space?

• In Event: Cultural Criminology: Trajectories

Abstract

I seek to advance developing conversations within critical and cultural criminology by discussing queer navigations of both discursive and physical space. Using data from two studies with LGBTQ youth and young adults, I explore strategies queer young people utilize to navigate perilous urban environments. One way they do so is to enact cultural repertoires, where particular habits and skills are used to negotiate interactions. Some of these repertoires are meant to avoid risk while moving through space, while others are meant to actively confront risky encounters. These strategies get at basic interactional concerns such as who is entitled to use space and for what purposes. Continuing with this theme, I discuss contested theoretical space regarding queer populations in criminology, and its parallels to risk navigation. I discuss how queer criminology, even if situated within cultural criminology, occupies a liminal space where its contestations allow for dynamic, engaged, and potentially transformative research. Ultimately, I question whether contested spaces produce inherently queer experiences, and envision how such a conceptualization could be productively developed within cultural criminology.

Author

• Vanessa Panfil, Old Dominion University