Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Dialogical Selves: Exploring “Sameness and Difference” in “Queer” Identification

“The LGBTQIA+ community”, like all social groupings, is moulded by dialectical forces: inclusivity/exclusivity, belonging/non-belonging, sameness/difference. Literature on it is riddled with dichotomous conflicts over (dis)identification and (anti)relationality in theory, lived experiences, and poli...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Phillips, Tyler
Other Authors: Spedding, Maxine
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychology 2023
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613227285741568
access_status_str Open Access
author Phillips, Tyler
author2 Spedding, Maxine
author_browse Phillips, Tyler
Spedding, Maxine
author_facet Spedding, Maxine
Phillips, Tyler
author_sort Phillips, Tyler
collection Thesis
description “The LGBTQIA+ community”, like all social groupings, is moulded by dialectical forces: inclusivity/exclusivity, belonging/non-belonging, sameness/difference. Literature on it is riddled with dichotomous conflicts over (dis)identification and (anti)relationality in theory, lived experiences, and political mobilisation. Dominant discourses tend to overlook intersectional complexities therein, focus on labels over interactions, and reiterate a framing of the LGBTQIA+ as inherently vulnerable. The gaps point to a need for a more open and reparative investigation that creates space for exploring and (re)negotiating the assumed coalition. This study investigated what diverse groups of queer-identified individuals experienced when sharing their lived accounts of “sameness and difference” with others. Twenty-one people each participated in one of four focus groups and in a follow-up interview were invited to reflect on their experience. Decolonial Intersectional Narrative Analysis (Boonzaier, 2019) and a Bakhtinian-dialogical analysis (Grossen & Salazar Orvig, 2011) were used to inspect the “what” and the “how” of the group dialogues, respectively. Participants recounted significant experiences of sameness and difference that both foregrounded and transcended their particular intersectional identities. Moments/relationships of being treated as more an object than a full subject, due to divergence from certain monoglossic gendered/sexed/sexual norms (both intra- and extra-communally), were conarrated as keys to ongoing queer abjection. Participants expressed that dialoguing in this particular setting was an experience of coming-out-of-isolation, intersubjective learning, and strengthening senses of self and community. Future research and activism are encouraged to invest in accessible open dialogue as a site itself for LGBTQIA+ community-building in South Africa and beyond.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37760
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:47.627Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of Psychology
publisherStr Department of Psychology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37760 Dialogical Selves: Exploring “Sameness and Difference” in “Queer” Identification Phillips, Tyler Spedding, Maxine LGBTQIA+ queer, dialogism sameness and difference critical psychology “The LGBTQIA+ community”, like all social groupings, is moulded by dialectical forces: inclusivity/exclusivity, belonging/non-belonging, sameness/difference. Literature on it is riddled with dichotomous conflicts over (dis)identification and (anti)relationality in theory, lived experiences, and political mobilisation. Dominant discourses tend to overlook intersectional complexities therein, focus on labels over interactions, and reiterate a framing of the LGBTQIA+ as inherently vulnerable. The gaps point to a need for a more open and reparative investigation that creates space for exploring and (re)negotiating the assumed coalition. This study investigated what diverse groups of queer-identified individuals experienced when sharing their lived accounts of “sameness and difference” with others. Twenty-one people each participated in one of four focus groups and in a follow-up interview were invited to reflect on their experience. Decolonial Intersectional Narrative Analysis (Boonzaier, 2019) and a Bakhtinian-dialogical analysis (Grossen & Salazar Orvig, 2011) were used to inspect the “what” and the “how” of the group dialogues, respectively. Participants recounted significant experiences of sameness and difference that both foregrounded and transcended their particular intersectional identities. Moments/relationships of being treated as more an object than a full subject, due to divergence from certain monoglossic gendered/sexed/sexual norms (both intra- and extra-communally), were conarrated as keys to ongoing queer abjection. Participants expressed that dialoguing in this particular setting was an experience of coming-out-of-isolation, intersubjective learning, and strengthening senses of self and community. Future research and activism are encouraged to invest in accessible open dialogue as a site itself for LGBTQIA+ community-building in South Africa and beyond. 2023-04-18T08:55:45Z 2023-04-18T08:55:45Z 2022 2023-04-14T09:49:21Z Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37760 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle LGBTQIA+
queer, dialogism
sameness and difference
critical psychology
Phillips, Tyler
Dialogical Selves: Exploring “Sameness and Difference” in “Queer” Identification
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Dialogical Selves: Exploring “Sameness and Difference” in “Queer” Identification
title_full Dialogical Selves: Exploring “Sameness and Difference” in “Queer” Identification
title_fullStr Dialogical Selves: Exploring “Sameness and Difference” in “Queer” Identification
title_full_unstemmed Dialogical Selves: Exploring “Sameness and Difference” in “Queer” Identification
title_short Dialogical Selves: Exploring “Sameness and Difference” in “Queer” Identification
title_sort dialogical selves exploring sameness and difference in queer identification
topic LGBTQIA+
queer, dialogism
sameness and difference
critical psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37760
work_keys_str_mv AT phillipstyler dialogicalselvesexploringsamenessanddifferenceinqueeridentification