Queer Futures, Queering Care: Diamond Mining and (Theorizing) Queer Social Reproduction in the Northwest Territories, Canada

• Main Author: Mexner, Dani
• Other Authors: Environmental Studies, Goebel, Allison, Hall, Rebecca
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Environmental Studies; Gender; Queer; Mining; Northern Canada; 2SLGBTQ+; Northwest Territories; Canada
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1974/33348

This research details the findings of ten interviews with 2SLGBTQ+ individuals living in the Northwest Territories, Canada, at the intersection of queer, feminist, and Indigenous critical theory. My inquiry was rooted in an analysis of how commitments to and practices of care affect queer folks’ material, social, and relational experiences of diamond mining in the north, remaining grounded in place, queer social relations, and community experiences. This work looked to the past, present, and future to ask the questions, (1) in what ways do northern queer folks reproduce social relations in the context of the diamond mining industry, (2) what does wellbeing mean for northern queer folks in this extractive context, and (3) are northern queer aspirations for the future shaped by the diamond mining regime in the NWT? This work reveals some of northern queer folks’ unique, complex experiences of community and future-building mediated by a myriad of social and cultural factors that intersect with their sexual and gender identities. 2SLGBTQ+ northerners indeed face unique challenges shaped by processes of past and present settler colonialism and structural trans- and homophobia, but the caring social relations that emerge despite these conditions highlight the immense resilience and strength of the northern queer community. This thesis proposes a queer ethic of care as a framework through which the complexity of community/mine relations can be better understood, and the caring relations characteristic of queer communities can be uplifted. Through consideration of not only the society-ecology relations present in the market- and care- economies of the north, but also the caring labours that function as socially reproductive labours to maintain queer social relations - despite extractive conditions that discourage them – this work has the potential to forge new understandings of current realities for queer extraction-affected communities, and to pave the way towards a future rooted in social relations of care. M.E.S.