Social networks, language and identity negotiations among queer migrants in Scotland

Francesca Stella,Anna Gawlewicz

doi:10.1080/1369183x.2020.1863203

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, we explore queer migrants’ social networks and the role language plays in how they negotiate companionship, romance and sex within queer community and diasporic environments. We draw on interviews with 56 self-identified LGBT migrants from Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union living in Scotland, UK. In doing so, we bring into conversation and critically engage with perspectives from queer migration literature and from work on migrants’ social networks and language use. In the article, we show how language underpins access to English-speaking and ethnic social circles, and how it is powerfully bound up with emotions, affect and perceptions of social proximity or distance. We argue for the need to move beyond abstract notions of queer or diasporic communities, and for an exploration of queer migrants’ sociality grounded in their personal communities, social networks and the language(s) used within them. We argue that this approach can better capture queer migrants’ complex identity negotiations and diverse sources of support and belonging, without assuming the primacy of either sexuality or ethnicity.

Highlights

The role of social networks in the process of migration and settlement has long been a central theme in migration studies
Queer migration literature tends to explore language and social networks in isolation, with research on language generally focussing on how queer migrants’ ‘native’ language(s) may reflect culturally specific constructs of sexuality and gender (Malanansan 2003). Despite claims that both diasporic and LGBT community spaces can be difficult to negotiate for LGBT migrants as sexualised or racialised outsiders, little attention has been paid to the role that language plays in shaping queer migrants’ social networks, and in their ability to interact in diasporic and LGBT spaces
Our findings demonstrate that language plays a key role in how East European queer migrants develop personal communities and social networks in Scotland

Summary

Introduction

The role of social networks in the process of migration and settlement has long been a central theme in migration studies. Queer migration literature tends to explore language and social networks in isolation, with research on language generally focussing on how queer migrants’ ‘native’ language(s) may reflect culturally specific constructs of sexuality and gender (Malanansan 2003) Despite claims that both diasporic and LGBT community spaces can be difficult to negotiate for LGBT migrants as sexualised or racialised outsiders, little attention has been paid to the role that language plays in shaping queer migrants’ social networks, and in their ability to interact in diasporic and LGBT spaces (but see Murray 2016). Recent research shows that attitudes towards homosexuality among CEE migrants are more socially conservative compared to those prevalent in ‘host’ Western European societies (Röder and Lubbers 2015; Mole et al 2017) These attitudes reflect dominant narratives about family, sexual and gender norms in migrants’ countries of origin, narratives that, according to opinion polls, find favour with large sections of the public (Piekut and Valentine 2016). This can be a response to experiences of racialisation and homonormativity as well as the expression of a desire to connect with other queers sharing a similar ethnocultural and linguistic heritage

Methodology

Conclusions

Data availability statement