Homing desires: transnational queer migrants negotiating homes and homelands in Scotland

Stella, F. and Binnie, J. (2024) Homing desires: transnational queer migrants negotiating homes and homelands in Scotland. Sociological Review, (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

A vast literature on the home across sociology, human geography and cognate disciplines has mapped out home as a messy conceptual terrain. Critical perspectives have theorised home as simultaneously imaginative and material, and argued for the importance to pay attention to both dimensions. Following in this tradition, empirical research has explored how ‘home’ is understood, imagined and experienced in everyday life, and how imagery and experiences of home are inflected by class, race/ethnicity, migrancy, gender, sexuality, age and able-bodiness. In the literature on home, however, migrancy and sexuality are rarely brought together. This article advances existing debates on the home though an intersectional exploration of the home/migration/sexuality nexus, drawing on research with queer migrants from Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) living in Scotland. Methodologically, the article draws on photo diaries and photo elicitation interviews to explore queer migrants’ sense of home: an approach that allows us to untangle the spatial, material, imaginary, affective and temporal dimensions of home. Empirically, we show how both migrancy and sexuality inform our participants’ complex experiences and understandings of home. Conceptually, the article brings into conversation literatures on the migrant and the queer home, which have hitherto been largely separate, and proposes ways to advance the exploration of the home/migration/sexuality nexus.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding statement: The project was funded by Economic and Social Research Council, grant n. ES/L009307/1.
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Stella, Dr Francesca
• Authors: Stella, F., and Binnie, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Sociological Review
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 0038-0261
• ISSN (Online): 1467-954X
• Published Online: 22 April 2024
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2024 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Sociological Review 2024
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher
• Data DOI: 10.5255/UKDA-SN-853389

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
190774		Intimate migrations: exploring the experiences of LGB migrants from Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union in Scotland	Francesca Stella	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/L009307/1	S&PS - Sociology