Date: Thursday 17th October

Time: 5pm - 6.30pm talk, 6.30pm - 7.30pm wine reception

Location: Geoffrey Manton Building, LT3, Manchester Metropolitan University

Tickets: Free – Available on Eventbrite

Organised by Dr Sarah Joy Ford from The Queer Research Network Manchester (QRNM) at Manchester Metropolitan University

Circling Around? Patterns of Queer Migration in Four English Cities

How does a study of locality change current debates in histories of sexuality and migration? This paper will discuss some of the findings from a major research project, “Queer Beyond London: Sexualities and Localities 1965-2013”. Challenging existing narratives of British queer history, this project compares two provincial cities well-known as gay hubs (Brighton and Manchester) with two that have distinctive but less obvious queer subcultures (Leeds and Plymouth).

Do people move for reasons connected with their queer identity, for ‘normative’ reasons such as work or university, or a mixture of these? I will draw on oral history interviews made by various LGBT projects since the late 1980s to examine the interleaved motives of queer people moving to the best-known gay cities of Brighton and Manchester, and the influence of employment chances or opportunities for higher education on LGBTQ migration to all four cities. While examining some individuals’ stories in detail, to build a picture of the complex issues faced by LGBTQ migrants, I will also suggest how migration patterns have changed since the 1960s.

Alison Oram is Professor of Social and Cultural History at Leeds Beckett University and has published widely on 20th century British lesbian and queer history and on the representation of sexuality in heritage, especially historic houses. She led the Historic England “Pride of Place: England’s LGBTQ Heritage” project in 2015-16 and was joint investigator on the AHRC project “Queer Beyond London: Sexualities and Localities, 1965-2010”.

For more information about QRNM: https://qrnm.home.blog/ 

The Queer Research Network Manchester (QRNM) is a new interdisciplinary research network that aims to bring together researchers working with queer themes across the Manchester universities. We host regular discussion and reading groups for and organise bi-monthly events and speakers.

QRNM provides a space for engaging with significant themes and debates within queer research.