ABSTRACT
‘Queer Belonging’, the penultimate chapter, explores the notion of queer belonging as a non-normative positionality vis-à-vis the queer intersectional specificity that queer Roma experience due to possessing non-normative, negatively valued, stigmatised and pathologised ethnic/‘racial’, sexual and gender identities that are often hyper-visible. This has consequences for queer Roma’s sense of belonging – or lack thereof – with, in or to majority white-normative, heteronormative and cisnormative societies, as well as Romani and LGBTIQ communities. In turn, non-normative (queer) belonging impacts the identifications and disidentifications made by queer Roma who may identify with certain aspects of ethnic/‘racial’, sexual and gender identities while disidentifying with those aspects that feel hostile, threatening or oppressive. The chapter discusses how queer belonging epitomises a strategic response to the ‘queer identity dilemma’.
