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Outskirts

View more insights in Books - Social Sciences - Sociology - Social Identities and Divisions

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View the page of Amy L. Stone

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Amy L. Stone highlights how the Outskirts addresses the diverse and intricate aspects of the queer experience on the periphery of the social world.

Image courtesy of interviewee. February 5, 2024

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This video video discusses a collaborative research effort led by two sociologists, focusing on LGBTQ life in the South, particularly through the lens of festivals like Mardi Gras and Fiesta. The authors, who have experienced and researched in Texas and the Gulf South, aim to highlight the often-overlooked role of LGBTQ individuals in these urban celebrations and social organizations.

They argue that traditional sociological studies have largely neglected issues of identity, space, and place, especially concerning marginalized groups. The authors advocate for a deeper understanding of marginality, emphasizing that studying these identities and spaces expands sociological theory and helps fully comprehend the social world beyond just dominant narratives.

The speaker details extensive research methods, including interviews and participant observation, conducted over five years in multiple cities. They emphasize that LGBTQ involvement in urban life, particularly during festivals, is significant and reveals ways these communities organize and express themselves publicly. The overall goal is to excite scholars and readers to explore broader and more diverse sociological possibilities regarding queer social dynamics and experiences.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.405 --> 00:03.685
I, coheaded this collection with Delaine Compton

00:04.265 --> 00:05.445
at University of New Orleans.

00:06.025 --> 00:09.005
And this collection came about through a series

00:09.005 --> 00:10.685
of important conversations that Delaine

00:10.685 --> 00:13.245
and I have had over the years about both

00:13.245 --> 00:15.725
where we're doing our research, that we both have,

00:15.725 --> 00:19.685
like lived and worked in Texas and in the south.

00:20.225 --> 00:23.125
Uh, the way our work is received by others, particularly

00:23.125 --> 00:26.245
by other sociologists who often have reactions that kind

00:26.245 --> 00:30.245
of betray their own misunderstandings about L-G-B-T-Q life

00:30.245 --> 00:33.885
in the south, and then our own kind of interests

00:33.885 --> 00:35.245
that come out of the spaces

00:35.385 --> 00:36.845
and places that we spend time in.

00:37.715 --> 00:42.055
So it really came about due to our own personal take on

00:42.965 --> 00:46.655
both where we live, where we work, where we do research,

00:46.655 --> 00:48.335
which is often all through the same place.

00:49.075 --> 00:51.255
And then also the way that our work has been received.

00:51.255 --> 00:54.415
Traditionally, we also have been incredibly impressed

00:54.435 --> 00:58.655
by work, by fellow scholars on questions about identity,

00:59.545 --> 01:02.535
about space, about place, about the history

01:02.535 --> 01:04.935
of the discipline that we feel like are being ignored

01:05.595 --> 01:07.855
in sociology because they're considered too marginal.

01:08.895 --> 01:11.595
So I think it's important to study sort of the marginalities

01:12.095 --> 01:14.955
of sexual identity space, place,

01:15.415 --> 01:18.035
and professional life, not

01:18.035 --> 01:20.475
because it helps us understand the center better.

01:21.585 --> 01:24.965
You know, it's not always about like who's in the center,

01:25.785 --> 01:29.005
but 'cause I think it helps us really understand,

01:29.095 --> 01:30.925
socio sociological approaches.

01:31.185 --> 01:33.405
It helps us expand sociological theory,

01:34.485 --> 01:37.445
that it helps us fully understand the social world,

01:38.185 --> 01:41.005
you know, in a way that is much more expansive

01:41.185 --> 01:44.325
and thorough than if we just studied the center.

01:45.165 --> 01:47.125
I think sociological theory is not complete

01:48.155 --> 01:51.415
if it only theorizes about incredibly common identities

01:51.415 --> 01:54.735
or uncommon ways of, and having space in place.

01:55.215 --> 01:58.775
I think when we as sociologists start to consider kind

01:58.775 --> 02:00.055
of more marginal

02:00.195 --> 02:03.975
or non-typical identities, you know, interactions

02:03.975 --> 02:07.535
with space in place, understandings of sexuality

02:07.555 --> 02:11.735
and gender, I think then we fully comprehend,

02:13.005 --> 02:14.305
you know, the social world.

02:15.605 --> 02:17.545
And I think without that understanding,

02:19.025 --> 02:20.305
I think we miss out on a lot.

02:20.805 --> 02:22.345
So I'm, I'm really advocating

02:22.345 --> 02:24.305
for an approach towards studying marginality

02:24.735 --> 02:26.505
that doesn't just either study it

02:26.505 --> 02:28.225
because it helps us understand the center

02:30.495 --> 02:33.595
and also doesn't study it because it's like quirky

02:33.615 --> 02:35.235
and weird, right?

02:35.785 --> 02:38.715
It's not just because it's wild

02:38.715 --> 02:40.395
and out there that we should be interested.

02:40.505 --> 02:42.995
It's not like those random of old theories about deviance

02:43.025 --> 02:45.635
that people joke that it was about quote, like nuts, s***s

02:45.635 --> 02:46.755
and perverts, right?

02:48.555 --> 02:52.285
It's about kind of understanding that the, the core ways

02:52.285 --> 02:54.685
that we interact with the social world are there as well.

02:55.155 --> 02:58.645
When we study the margins. In my own work on L-G-B-T-Q

02:58.645 --> 03:01.965
Involvement in Mardi Gras and Fiesta in the urban south

03:01.965 --> 03:04.405
and southwest, one of the things

03:04.405 --> 03:07.365
that I noticed is the complete absence of literature

03:07.945 --> 03:10.325
on L-G-B-G-Q Festival life.

03:11.025 --> 03:12.445
So major cities

03:12.515 --> 03:15.565
through throughout the US have these like annual festivals

03:16.305 --> 03:18.635
and the Gulf South that just happens to be Mardi Gras,

03:18.725 --> 03:19.955
which is, there's a lot

03:19.955 --> 03:21.515
of common misconceptions about Mardi Gras.

03:21.515 --> 03:23.275
It's not just a weekend, it's a whole season.

03:23.465 --> 03:28.235
It's like months and weeks of, events of private balls,

03:28.495 --> 03:29.635
of public parades.

03:30.495 --> 03:33.755
And what's been overlooked in my opinion, is that all

03:33.755 --> 03:36.115
of these studies, all of our ways that we understand the way

03:36.675 --> 03:40.675
L-G-B-T-Q people are in city life is

03:40.675 --> 03:42.075
that we don't really consider the ways

03:42.105 --> 03:45.755
that they are very publicly visible during festivals.

03:46.105 --> 03:48.155
They often form festival organizations.

03:48.725 --> 03:51.235
These organizations aren't just like this quick ephemeral

03:51.325 --> 03:53.635
thing, but they exist throughout the year

03:54.375 --> 03:57.875
and are a way that L-G-L-G-B-T-Q people in the Gulf South,

03:57.985 --> 04:01.795
like organize their public life and their social life.

04:02.425 --> 04:04.435
It's not a gay neighborhood, it's not a gay bar,

04:04.705 --> 04:06.035
it's not an activist organization.

04:06.135 --> 04:08.475
It is a social club, but it's very tied into like

04:09.155 --> 04:10.395
citywide rituals.

04:11.185 --> 04:13.205
So I wrote a whole chapter about this in the book

04:13.205 --> 04:16.285
because I think that it's an important way

04:16.285 --> 04:17.965
of understanding LGBT LGBTQ urban life.

04:17.965 --> 04:19.805
Like if we don't understand this part of it,

04:20.075 --> 04:22.365
because often we don't think much of the south,

04:22.365 --> 04:23.405
when we think of urban life,

04:24.385 --> 04:26.715
then we miss out on really important ways

04:26.715 --> 04:30.635
that L-G-B-T-Q people are involved in urban life, right?

04:31.535 --> 04:34.555
Um, so I feel like it kind of fills a gap in that way

04:35.295 --> 04:38.275
in terms of just helping us think more expansively

04:38.295 --> 04:42.075
as scholars about how do we study queerness

04:42.335 --> 04:43.835
and how do we study gender sexuality?

04:43.895 --> 04:45.555
How do we study the city? You know,

04:45.555 --> 04:46.595
how do we study safe in place?

04:46.865 --> 04:48.915
Like just to kind of think, think more broadly about that

04:49.255 --> 04:52.355
and in kind of more exciting ways, I think for this book,

04:52.455 --> 04:55.115
we reached out to our network of scholars

04:55.115 --> 04:58.035
that we know about people we'd seen doing really exciting

04:58.145 --> 05:01.915
work on, homosexual friendships when I think

05:01.915 --> 05:04.395
of Antonio Randolph's book, and work

05:04.615 --> 05:08.355
or, on outpost bars when I think

05:08.355 --> 05:09.795
of Gregor Matson's work.

05:10.495 --> 05:13.435
And so we really kind of reached out to all of these folks

05:14.215 --> 05:16.795
and also like dove deep into our own research

05:17.055 --> 05:19.275
to think more deeply about kind

05:19.275 --> 05:21.035
of theorizing from the outskirts.

05:21.775 --> 05:24.395
Um, it was really kind of bringing all of this work together

05:24.665 --> 05:27.795
that made us be able to kind of theorize in a more

05:28.305 --> 05:31.355
comprehensive and complex way reading the

05:31.355 --> 05:32.395
work of other scholars.

05:33.175 --> 05:35.955
Um, for my own work on Mardi Gras, I did a,

05:36.415 --> 05:39.915
an intense combination of interviews, archival research,

05:40.305 --> 05:43.675
participant observation, some ethnographic work

05:44.305 --> 05:46.635
over the course of five years in four different cities.

05:46.735 --> 05:48.355
So I was pretty busy. I was a really busy

05:48.415 --> 05:49.595
kid for a minute there.

05:49.775 --> 05:54.545
Um, so for my own part in the book where I did five years

05:54.925 --> 05:56.345
of research on urban

05:56.825 --> 05:58.205
Festivals in the south and southwest,

05:59.605 --> 06:01.365
I did this very intense combination

06:01.665 --> 06:03.525
of like over a hundred interviews,

06:04.035 --> 06:05.685
over a hundred days at festivals.

06:06.745 --> 06:08.125
Um, and then weeks

06:08.145 --> 06:10.165
and weeks of spending time in each of the different cities,

06:11.145 --> 06:13.645
talking to people doing, you know,

06:13.645 --> 06:15.525
incredible research and whatnot.

06:16.525 --> 06:20.535
I wrote a lot of field notes in, airports think Well

06:20.535 --> 06:21.535
to getting ready to fly home.

06:22.195 --> 06:24.575
So all of that was incredibly exciting and informative

06:24.595 --> 06:26.255
and I think it, it really changed the

06:26.255 --> 06:27.375
way I look at urban life.

06:28.435 --> 06:30.235
I think it changed my approach as a sociologist

06:30.295 --> 06:32.275
to ephemeral events like festivals

06:32.685 --> 06:33.835
where we may look at those events

06:33.835 --> 06:36.435
and say, that was fast that to happen briefly.

06:36.615 --> 06:37.835
It was just a couple of hours.

06:38.055 --> 06:40.195
It was like five hours, right? Once a year.

06:41.675 --> 06:44.255
But the organizations that create those events are ones

06:44.255 --> 06:45.855
that exist throughout the year

06:46.855 --> 06:49.665
that meaningfully engage people in kind

06:49.665 --> 06:51.985
of being involved in the city they live in,

06:52.125 --> 06:54.025
and the city rituals that important for people

06:54.025 --> 06:55.225
around them and for themselves.

06:55.875 --> 06:57.105
These are all really important things.

06:57.905 --> 06:59.545
I hope the readers will read outskirts

06:59.685 --> 07:02.825
and have a much broader sense of what's interesting,

07:02.825 --> 07:04.905
sociologically what's possible

07:04.905 --> 07:06.465
to study from a sociological perspective

07:07.215 --> 07:09.595
and what's exciting about the queer social world.

07:10.525 --> 07:13.035
Right? I hope that it'll excite them to think

07:13.095 --> 07:17.075
of things like the ways that Korean bathhouses, you know,

07:17.375 --> 07:19.715
are used by gay men, right?

07:19.735 --> 07:21.155
For encounters and how

07:21.155 --> 07:23.075
that tells us something really important about

07:23.135 --> 07:25.955
how people use sexuality and sex and space.

07:26.775 --> 07:28.235
But the ways that,

07:28.525 --> 07:31.755
Mardi Gras Cruz are like a really important way

07:31.755 --> 07:34.915
that LGBT people are involved in urban life in the Gulf

07:34.965 --> 07:39.045
South about ways that, most of the gay bars

07:39.075 --> 07:42.405
that we have in the United States are not in major cities,

07:43.025 --> 07:44.525
but are kind of outpost bars.

07:44.625 --> 07:45.645
So these are some of the topics

07:45.645 --> 07:47.365
that we address in the volume,

07:48.345 --> 07:52.045
and I think they kind of expand our imagination about kind

07:52.045 --> 07:53.805
of where the queer social world is happening

07:54.585 --> 07:56.845
and then also kind of what, what

07:56.845 --> 08:00.125
and how we study those places and spaces and identities.

00:00 - I, coheaded this collection with Delaine Compton at University of New Orleans. And this collection came about through a series of important conversations that Delaine and I have had over the years about both where we're doing our research, that we both have,

00:15 - like lived and worked in Texas and in the south. the way our work is received by others, particularly by other sociologists who often have reactions that kind of betray their own misunderstandings about L-G-B-T-Q life in the south, and then our own kind of interests that come out of the spaces and places that we spend time in. So it really came about due to our own personal take on both where we live, where we work, where we do research, which is often all through the same place.

00:49 - And then also the way that our work has been received. Traditionally, we also have been incredibly impressed by work, by fellow scholars on questions about identity, about space, about place, about the history of the discipline that we feel like are being ignored in sociology because they're considered too marginal. So I think it's important to study sort of the marginalities of sexual identity space, place, and professional life, not because it helps us understand the center better.

01:21 - You know, it's not always about like who's in the center, but 'cause I think it helps us really understand, socio sociological approaches. It helps us expand sociological theory, that it helps us fully understand the social world, you know, in a way that is much more expansive and thorough than if we just studied the center. I think sociological theory is not complete if it only theorizes about incredibly common identities or uncommon ways of, and having space in place.

01:55 - I think when we as sociologists start to consider kind of more marginal or non-typical identities, you know, interactions with space in place, understandings of sexuality and gender, I think then we fully comprehend, you know, the social world. And I think without that understanding, I think we miss out on a lot. So I'm, I'm really advocating for an approach towards studying marginality

02:24 - that doesn't just either study it because it helps us understand the center and also doesn't study it because it's like quirky and weird, right? It's not just because it's wild and out there that we should be interested. It's not like those random of old theories about deviance that people joke that it was about quote, like nuts, s***s and perverts, right? It's about kind of understanding that the, the core ways

02:52 - that we interact with the social world are there as well. When we study the margins. In my own work on L-G-B-T-Q Involvement in Mardi Gras and Fiesta in the urban south and southwest, one of the things that I noticed is the complete absence of literature on L-G-B-G-Q Festival life. So major cities through throughout the US have these like annual festivals and the Gulf South that just happens to be Mardi Gras, which is, there's a lot

03:19 - of common misconceptions about Mardi Gras. It's not just a weekend, it's a whole season. It's like months and weeks of, events of private balls, of public parades. And what's been overlooked in my opinion, is that all of these studies, all of our ways that we understand the way L-G-B-T-Q people are in city life is that we don't really consider the ways that they are very publicly visible during festivals. They often form festival organizations.

03:48 - These organizations aren't just like this quick ephemeral thing, but they exist throughout the year and are a way that L-G-L-G-B-T-Q people in the Gulf South, like organize their public life and their social life. It's not a gay neighborhood, it's not a gay bar, it's not an activist organization. It is a social club, but it's very tied into like citywide rituals. So I wrote a whole chapter about this in the book because I think that it's an important way

04:16 - of understanding LGBT LGBTQ urban life. Like if we don't understand this part of it, because often we don't think much of the south, when we think of urban life, then we miss out on really important ways that L-G-B-T-Q people are involved in urban life, right? so I feel like it kind of fills a gap in that way in terms of just helping us think more expansively as scholars about how do we study queerness and how do we study gender sexuality?

04:43 - How do we study the city? You know, how do we study safe in place? Like just to kind of think, think more broadly about that and in kind of more exciting ways, I think for this book, we reached out to our network of scholars that we know about people we'd seen doing really exciting work on, homosexual friendships when I think of Antonio Randolph's book, and work or, on outpost bars when I think of Gregor Matson's work.

05:10 - And so we really kind of reached out to all of these folks and also like dove deep into our own research to think more deeply about kind of theorizing from the outskirts. it was really kind of bringing all of this work together that made us be able to kind of theorize in a more comprehensive and complex way reading the work of other scholars. for my own work on Mardi Gras, I did a, an intense combination of interviews, archival research,

05:40 - participant observation, some ethnographic work over the course of five years in four different cities. So I was pretty busy. I was a really busy kid for a minute there. so for my own part in the book where I did five years of research on urban Festivals in the south and southwest, I did this very intense combination of like over a hundred interviews, over a hundred days at festivals.

06:06 - and then weeks and weeks of spending time in each of the different cities, talking to people doing, you know, incredible research and whatnot. I wrote a lot of field notes in, airports think Well to getting ready to fly home. So all of that was incredibly exciting and informative and I think it, it really changed the way I look at urban life. I think it changed my approach as a sociologist

06:30 - to ephemeral events like festivals where we may look at those events and say, that was fast that to happen briefly. It was just a couple of hours. It was like five hours, right? Once a year. But the organizations that create those events are ones that exist throughout the year that meaningfully engage people in kind of being involved in the city they live in, and the city rituals that important for people

06:54 - around them and for themselves. These are all really important things. I hope the readers will read outskirts and have a much broader sense of what's interesting, sociologically what's possible to study from a sociological perspective and what's exciting about the queer social world. Right? I hope that it'll excite them to think of things like the ways that Korean bathhouses, you know, are used by gay men, right?

07:19 - For encounters and how that tells us something really important about how people use sexuality and sex and space. But the ways that, Mardi Gras Cruz are like a really important way that LGBT people are involved in urban life in the Gulf South about ways that, most of the gay bars that we have in the United States are not in major cities, but are kind of outpost bars. So these are some of the topics

07:45 - that we address in the volume, and I think they kind of expand our imagination about kind of where the queer social world is happening and then also kind of what, what and how we study those places and spaces and identities.

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