Tracking the invisible: queer approaches to parenthood and family in Turkey

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1558799 (Table of Contents)

This thesis focuses on the experiences of parents and the dreams and plans of parents-to-be that are abjected by the heteronormative family system. Based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews and participant-observation with lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer parents, the research explores the strategies developed by these parents for raising their children in the context of the heteronormative family system. How do these parents constitute a challenge for the “ideal nuclear family” form that is constitutive of nation-state practices? How do they experience or approach the school, which is heavily shaped by heteronormativity, as part of their parenting process? What are the different ways in which they define and experience themselves as “parents”? Asking such questions, this thesis critically analyzes the different articulations of queer parenthood and their challenge to compulsory heterosexuality, conjugality, and compulsory parental identification. The ethnography not only traces parents’ relations with their children and their children’s school, but also their self-identification as a parent in the dichotomous gender system. In this sense, this research provides a thorough questioning of parental identifications within the heterosexual matrix and explores the possibilities of “non-compliant” parenting. The thesis aims to contribute to the existing literature on family and motherhood in Turkey by exploring the intersections between gender, sexual orientation and parenthood.