North-to-North queer migrations: privileged subjectivities and belonging in Iceland

AbstractThis paper argues for a rethinking of the ambivalences of privileged subjectivity and feelings of belonging when it comes to North-to-North mobility of queer populations. A sense of belonging is determined by sociocultural and socioeconomic factors, as well as one's social locations, such as race, ethnicity, gender, language, and nationality. The paper examines how these contested categories intersect and shape interlocutors' imaginations of queer belonging, and their privileged sense of belonging, through the premise of predominant political projects of belonging. The analyses are based on 27 semi-structured interviews, a focus group discussion, and participant observations. This analysis demonstrates how images of Icelandic national identity and cultural belonging are political projects, just like the rights and responsibilities of migrants, and are thus adaptable to diversification and deconstruction. The analyses further show how imaginative geographies persistently construct hierarchies of affective queer belonging, and how transnational relations of privilege operate in queer migrations, as in other forms of migration. In line with the analyses, I thus advocate for locating one's own belonging-in-difference through queer temporalities, rather than embracing a nationalistic and normative arrangement of society. Further endorsing anti-racist, transnational, feminist, and queer solidarity across differences as well as queer worldmaking practices.Keywords: Icelandimaginations of queer belongingNorth-to-North queer mobilitypolitical projects of belongingprivileged sense of belonging AcknowledgementsThis article is part of a doctoral research called Queer(ing) Migrations to Iceland: Homo(trans)nationalism, migrant hierarchy, and the politics/sense of (un)belonging. I am forever thankful to the interlocutors who shared their time and engaging experiences with me and thus made this project possible. I am further grateful for the guidance of my supervisor professor Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir, and the doctoral committee of professor Þorgerður Jennýjardóttir Einarsdóttir and Adi Kuntsman reader in digital politics. As well as to the three anonymous reviewers and others who have commented on previous versions of the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Additional informationFundingThe Icelandic Research Fund; [grant number 141750-051].Notes on contributorsLinda Sólveigar- og GuðmundsdóttirLinda Sólveigar- og Guðmundsdóttir is a doctoral student and a lecturer at the University of Iceland, as well as a researcher in the project Queer Refugees in Queer Utopias - Inclusions and Exclusions, which is affiliated with RIKK – Institute for Gender, Equality and Difference. Her research interests include migration studies, queer studies, power and resistance, social exclusion, the politics of belonging and affective belonging. Linda has a long-standing interest in LGBTIQ + issues and has participated in networks, such as, the European Network for Queer Anthropology and the COST Action LGBTI + Social and Economic (in)equalities.