Play, protest and pride: Un/happy queers of Proud to Play in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Lynda Johnston and Gordon Waitt
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Lynda Johnston: University of Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand
Gordon Waitt: University of Wollongong, Australia

Urban Studies, 2021, vol. 58, issue 7, 1431-1447

Abstract: This article extends discussion of urban activism through paying attention to the emotional and embodied politics of a sports event. We draw on research of the ‘Proud to Play Games’, an inaugural regional multi-sports event held during the Auckland Pride Festival in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2016. Feminist and queer theories of emotion and affect – particularly the promise of happiness – produce nuanced understandings of urban gay pride events. We focus on the experiences of three Proud to Play participants as they illustrate the tensions of play/protest, happy/sad and pride/shame in Auckland. The portraits highlight: a homonormativity pursuit of happiness and youthful masculine athleticism; precarious happiness and oppositional lesbian desire; and, the pursuit of indigenous happiness. Through attention to affective and emotional politics, we demonstrate that Proud to Play can challenge heteronormative urban space by simultaneously fighting for a better future and making a claim for the right to be unhappy.

Keywords: affect; cities; emotion; gender; sexualities; sport; unhappy queer activism; 情爱; 城市; 情感; 性别; 性; è¿ åŠ¨ï¼Œä¸ å¹¸ç¦ é…·å„¿è¡ŒåŠ¨ä¸»ä¹‰ (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:7:p:1431-1447

DOI: 10.1177/0042098020905513

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