Of Other Contexts: A very Brazilian LGBTQ+ Urban Geography

The presence of the LGBTQ+ community in urban territories is undeniable and it has been researched and debated, mainly by Euro-American scholars, since the 1980s. Unlike many western cities, Rio de Janeiro and its LGBTQ+ urban geography have not yet been researched in depth with the aim of mapping the city’s queer spaces, irrespective of whether it is a private/public venue, a nighttime or daytime space or a non-profit organisation. By focusing on this particular city, I ensure the expansion of such into mainstream academia on new perspectives and realities whilst also guaranteeing that our stories, our memories and our lives never be forgot. LGBTQ+ memory has, universally, always been taken for granted or erased from the mainstream, making it extremely important and necessary to collect all this data and preserve it for the heritage of our history. This research, therefore, is largely concerned with expanding current LGBTQ+ urban geography debates by illustrating - and attempting to define - the reality of a Global South city. After a brief overview of the main themes that are discussed in this thesis, such as geographies of sexualities, queer spaces and queer (urban) imaginaries and futures, the second chapter is dedicated to the formation of Brazilian national identity, its construction process through dominant discourses and its deconstruction through gender and sexuality issues. In addition to a short discussion on the LGBTQ+ movement in Brazil in order to enhance concluding thoughts. The third and fourth chapters focus on queer spaces in Rio de Janeiro. The former maps the city's nocturnal scenario as well as collecting data from across the city over the past 20 years. In so doing, it positions Rio de Janeiro within current debates. The latter chapter seeks to expand the debate by bringing what I call ' other spaces'; that is, LGBTQ+ spaces that do have a very important role on queer life but are not necessarily embedded in the nighttime status. Thus, this research is a critical analysis of the queer urban scenario in Rio de Janeiro that aims to understand how gender and sexuality issues are intertwined with the processes of urban geography, producing paradoxical relationships in regard to LGBTQ+ groups and their spaces.