To truly engage in the multifaceted intersection of queer identity, race, culture, and religion, this thesis employs empirical research in an exploratory study according to a qualitative research paradigm. According to Creswell (2012, p36) qualitative research is the ‘process of research flowing from philosophical assumptions to worldviews, through a theoretical lens, and procedures involved in studying social or human problems’. I use this approach to explore the embodied lived reality of QPoC in Cape Town. Acknowledging the diversity of South Africa, in terms of both culture and religion, and the multifaceted and systemic backdrop of the research question, this exploratory research is conducted in order to have a better
understanding of the existing problem rather than to provide conclusive results. By means of grounded theory research, I aim to study the meaning of events for QPoC, assuming that meaning will be shared, through common language, lived experience, and socialisation.
Research suggests that grounded theory research addresses social processes composed of meanings, which can be clarified and made public (Glaser, 1978). The theoretical framework of the study is informed by Queer Theory, Intersectionality Theory, and the Sociology of Religion, but that does not mean these theories have to use an inductive approach in order to seek new perspectives. Grounded theory approach may be used when there is some knowledge about the research phenomenon, but a new point of view is sought (Corbin, 1990). I will not put aside ideas or assumptions about the research topic but will use experience to better understand my findings (Asakura, K., 2017). The research questions are carefully formulated to induce the flexibility and freedom to explore the phenomenon in depth (Glaser, 1978).
Exploring the systemic realities that inform the daily lived realties of QPoC, the study concentrates on three snapshot themes of identity, recognising that through embodiment and agency the body is not only a site of inscription but also a site of performance, resistance, and self-assertion (Settler and Engh, 2015). These are: identity construction, identity negotiation, and identity expression.
1.4.1 Sampling
I used a non-probability snow-ball sampling technique to choose fifteen participants for the study, and participants were recruited on social media platforms by sharing an invitation-to- participate post and asking those who showed interest in the study to invite one other person to participate who also meets the study criteria. This proposed sampling frame is the purposive sampling assisting in the selection of appropriate participants for the study (Babbie and Mouton, 2001). According to Abrams (2010), purposive sampling is a strategy in which the
researcher exercises judgement about who will be best suited to provide an understanding of the phenomena of interest. The study requires participants to draw on lived experiences therefore the criteria are people who live in Cape Town, identify as queer (as self-defined), and are of colour.
1.4.2 Data Collection
The data collected for this study is through focus group discussions (FGD) held on Zoom; the fifteen enrolled participants form three groups who will meet once to engage with each other and myself on the prepared focus group discussion guiding questions. I record the experience of QPoC through personally reflected narratives focusing on how these experiences link to agency and to the structural and system realities that inform our embodied experiences in the city of Cape Town, South Africa, a space that claims to be inclusive of all bodies. In an attempt to blur the lines between researcher and the research, I invite participants to agree on one key theme that dominates their group discussion, and then ask them to keep a written diary over a period of one week in which they write reflections of their experiences in relation to the agreed theme. Participation in the study is voluntary. A more detailed outline of the methodology is discussed in the chapter on theory and method, chapter three
1.4.3 Research Questions
The key research question that will guide the data collection process towards the main research question is: Is liberation worth suffering for:
How do queer-identifying people of colour living in Cape Town, South Africa, construct, reconstruct, and express their identities throughout their lives across various socio-religious contexts?
To answer this question, I will attempt to answer the following sub-questions:
1. What are the social, religious, and legal anxieties related to queer identity construction and expression in Cape Town, South Africa?
2. How do queer people negotiate their identity construction and expression in socio- religious contexts in Cape Town, South Africa?
3. How are queer people’s lived experiences impacted on by religion and what role does/can religion have on shifting experiences of identity construction, negotiation and expression experiences in Cape Town, South Africa?
1.4.4 Research Objectives
In concluding this study, I aim to fulfil the following objectives:
1. To understand the anxieties associated with queer identity construction and expression in the South African social, religious, and legal context of Cape Town.
2. To understand how queer people negotiate their identity construction and expression in socio-religious communities in Cape Town, South Africa (and the impact thereof on their lived experiences of the world).
3. To analyse the intersectionalities of queer lives in an attempt to understand the complexity of freedom, liberation, power, and suffering in queer-identifying people’s lives and the role religion plays therein.
1.4.5 Theoretical Framework
A theoretical framework provides a conceptual starting point to uphold the study. Two primary theories will be used: Queer Theory and the Theory of the Sociology of Religion. Queer Theory aims to ‘disrupt’ modernist fixed ideas that concern sexuality and gender by means of a post- structuralist critique of ‘natural’ identities (Schneider, 2000: 208). Queer Theory is defined from multiple critical and cultural contexts such as feminism, post-structuralist theory, and radical movements of PoC (De Laurits (1991). Queer Theory will be used to develop the concepts within which the research will be conducted by exploring identity as fluid and performed in a manner that is responsive to the institutional setting, physical environment, and relational context in which individuals are located. Further, understanding the intersectionality of queer-identifying PoC uses a sub-category of Queer Theory namely – Intersectionality Theory.
According to Davie ‘[t]he Sociology of Religion aims to discover the patterns of individual and social living associated with religion in all its diverse forms’ (2013: 171). Using the Theory of the Sociology of Religion, we will begin to understand how religion and religious experiences have an impact on the lives of QPoC. The Theory of the Sociology of Religion understands how religion affects society, culture, and personality (Yinger, 1957). This theoretical framework will enable interrogation of ‘the closet’ as an enabler of both liberation and suffering by reflecting on systemic sources of oppression that act upon us, so that we can influence the means by which those are internalised.