UC Santa Barbara

How do self-identified LGBTQ+ individuals with familial migration histories understand their intersecting identities in relation to transnational discourses and networks? While scholarship has explored the overlap of sexualities and migration, few have specifically examined the influential roles of the family and nationhood in their analysis. Using semi-structured interviews with 33 self-identified LGBTQ+ people who have migration histories within their families, this research documents how sexuality emerges as a way to conceptualize feelings of belonging to nation-states in their lives. My findings introduce fractured nostalgia as a framework through which belonging, assimilation, and (trans)nationalism can be understood in the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals with migration histories.