End of June happenings

I have come up with a dissertation topic! It has been a struggle for me to think of something I would be interested in writing about. But here it is:

I want to explore the idea of queer affect*, what are queer affects and how people mobilise on the basis of queer affects. And my case study will be UK LGBT activist groups from the 1970s-1990s (the dates could be revised). I specifically want to look at groups that work across multiple sites of gender (such as disability, race, and gender).

*Affect is a field of study/inquiry concerning emotions and how bodies move through the world. It began in psychoanalysis, but has been used in the social sciences to look at how people mobilise or arrange themselves around things like pride, fear, rage, shame, etc. A book to read to help understand this would be "The Cultural Politics of Emotion" by Sara Ahmed.

I am now going to spend my days in the archive room, looking at old newsletters, pamphlets, and posters.

One of my goals for the summer is to explore more of London. Yesterday I went to Kensington Gardens, which houses Kensington Palace - the place where Princess Diana lived. There is also a Diana Memorial Walk and a Memorial Playground.

Ellie and I are going to spend this weekend in Banbury, a village in Oxfordshire with my friend Alice and her parents. I am excited to see the countryside, and will try to take some pictures! Saturday is our 3 year anniversary, so it will be a nice relaxing way to spend the weekend.

Now, if you have been following the World Cup at all, you'll know that the USA won the top of the group and qualified for the next round along with England. Its quite exciting watching the World Cup in a place that loves football/soccer so much!