Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the experiences of queer asylum seekers and refugees living in shelters and camps in northern Italy, trying to analyze their efforts to dwell in places commonly perceived as homo/transphobic.

Paper long abstract:

Life conditions experienced by asylum seekers and refugees who are at the same time queer people remain overlooked in the majority of southern European countries. In the case of Italy, some works related to academic field and LGBTQ activism seem to suggest a critical analysis about how the economic crisis have affected queer people's lifes - for instance proposing reflections about the precariousness and disquiet of homeless, unemployed, poor queer individuals - but little attention is given to the intersections of skin-colour, linguistic barriers, class and (homo)sexuality.

The proposed paper aims to deal with the experiences of some queer asylum seekers and refugees living in shelters and camps in northern Italy, trying to analyze their efforts to dwell in places commonly perceived as homo/transphobic. In these places they have to decide whether hide, cope or reveil their sexual identities with their roommates (mainly coming from the same geographic area) and the social workers (usually Italians speaking only English). Because asylum seekers and refugees have fled from their countries for discriminations or persecutions related to their sexual behaviours, their narratives are sometimes characterized by opacity and ambivalence. In some cases talking about intimate issues is lived with dread, while in other situations is experienced with pride.

In this research, ethnographic lens reveals its usefulness looking at different ways to describe, express and legitimate queerness in asylum shelters/camps, and rethinking the dominant hetero/homonormative narratives that commonly portray queer asylum seekers and refugees as powerless victims.