“Where the hell is everyone else?” : Exploring the in/visibility of religious queers in Sweden
Lundell, Elin LU
(2025)
p.140-157
- Abstract
This chapter explores the invisibility of religious queers within the public discourse on religion and queerness in Sweden, drawing on personal fieldwork experiences and interviews with queer religious participants who self-identify as either Jews, Christians, or Muslims. While highlighting that the visibilities and invisibilities of religious queers vary across the different religious affiliations of the research participants, making it harder for some more than others to find and access communities of fellow religious queers, this chapter also problematizes the notion of being visible- as individual religious queers and as queer religious communities- as inherently positive. This complexity is captured by approaching invisibility and... (More)
This chapter explores the invisibility of religious queers within the public discourse on religion and queerness in Sweden, drawing on personal fieldwork experiences and interviews with queer religious participants who self-identify as either Jews, Christians, or Muslims. While highlighting that the visibilities and invisibilities of religious queers vary across the different religious affiliations of the research participants, making it harder for some more than others to find and access communities of fellow religious queers, this chapter also problematizes the notion of being visible- as individual religious queers and as queer religious communities- as inherently positive. This complexity is captured by approaching invisibility and visibility as a continuum rather than a dichotomy, and by describing processes of in/visibility as intertwined with homonationalist and Islamophobic logics. By highlighting the role of secularism in these dynamics, the main contribution of this chapter is to frame both the invisibility of religious queers and the demands for their visibility as consequences of normative secularism's equation of queerness with secularity. This chapter suggests an unholy alliance between secular and religious fundamentalism that marginalizes and renders religious queers unintelligible, but also that religious queers practise religion and queerness in ways that challenge both forms of fundamentalism.
(Less)
- author
- Lundell, Elin
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-01
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- Embracing Faith and Desire : Queer and Feminist Engagements with Islam and Christianity as Lived Religions - Queer and Feminist Engagements with Islam and Christianity as Lived Religions
- pages
- 18 pages
- publisher
- Taylor and Francis A.S.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105015256784
- ISBN
- 9781040411698
- 9781032968308
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781003590880-13
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- caa34c33-92b3-4436-acf4-c98866c6eb42
- date added to LUP
- 2025-11-14 11:58:04
- date last changed
- 2025-11-15 03:41:32
@inbook{caa34c33-92b3-4436-acf4-c98866c6eb42,
abstract = {{<p>This chapter explores the invisibility of religious queers within the public discourse on religion and queerness in Sweden, drawing on personal fieldwork experiences and interviews with queer religious participants who self-identify as either Jews, Christians, or Muslims. While highlighting that the visibilities and invisibilities of religious queers vary across the different religious affiliations of the research participants, making it harder for some more than others to find and access communities of fellow religious queers, this chapter also problematizes the notion of being visible- as individual religious queers and as queer religious communities- as inherently positive. This complexity is captured by approaching invisibility and visibility as a continuum rather than a dichotomy, and by describing processes of in/visibility as intertwined with homonationalist and Islamophobic logics. By highlighting the role of secularism in these dynamics, the main contribution of this chapter is to frame both the invisibility of religious queers and the demands for their visibility as consequences of normative secularism's equation of queerness with secularity. This chapter suggests an unholy alliance between secular and religious fundamentalism that marginalizes and renders religious queers unintelligible, but also that religious queers practise religion and queerness in ways that challenge both forms of fundamentalism.</p>}},
author = {{Lundell, Elin}},
booktitle = {{Embracing Faith and Desire : Queer and Feminist Engagements with Islam and Christianity as Lived Religions}},
isbn = {{9781040411698}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{140--157}},
publisher = {{Taylor and Francis A.S.}},
title = {{“Where the hell is everyone else?” : Exploring the in/visibility of religious queers in Sweden}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003590880-13}},
doi = {{10.4324/9781003590880-13}},
year = {{2025}},
}