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Travel guides, urban spatial imaginaries and LGBTQ+ activism: The case of Damron guides

Author

Listed:
  • Larry Knopp

    (University of Washington Tacoma, USA)

  • Michael Brown

    (University of Washington, USA)

Abstract

In this paper we focus on LGBTQ+ travel guides and the creation of a North American LGBTQ+ urban imaginary as forms and facilitators of activism. Specifically, we consider one of the few continuously published sources detailing such an imaginary in the mid-20th century and its construction of an ‘epistemological grid’ onto which entries were placed. We briefly situate the guides in the context of an emerging (and frequently politicised) mid-20th-century LGBTQ+ media ecosystem, then proceed to a detailed analysis of the imaginary they evoke. Cities are the guides’ assumed building-blocks, along with certain other ontologies, most notably bars, sex establishments and other meeting places (though these change over time). As aggregators of information at a national scale, the guides standardised and communicated particular notions of what LGBTQ+ space was (and is). At the same time, as way-finding tools they helped readers navigate actual communities at the local scale. In so doing, we argue, Damron guides helped shape early forms of LGBTQ+ identity and community in North America – including the establishment of ‘gaybourhoods’. We therefore interpret the guides as both activist and facilitators of activism. They claimed space at an abstract level while simultaneously facilitating place-making, territorialisation and simple survival strategies by actual people on the ground. Our analysis contributes to understandings of the relationship, over time and at multiple scales, between travel guides, an urban-based North American spatial imaginary and LGBTQ+ activism. It also highlights Damron guides’ potential as a rich source of data.

Suggested Citation

  • Larry Knopp & Michael Brown, 2021. "Travel guides, urban spatial imaginaries and LGBTQ+ activism: The case of Damron guides," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(7), pages 1380-1396, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:58:y:2021:i:7:p:1380-1396
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098020913457
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. D P Dixon & J P Jones III, 1998. "My Dinner with Derrida, or Spatial Analysis and Poststructuralism Do Lunch," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 30(2), pages 247-260, February.
    2. Gavin Brown, 2007. "Mutinous Eruptions: Autonomous Spaces of Radical Queer Activism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(11), pages 2685-2698, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alison L Bain & Julie A Podmore, 2021. "Placing LGBTQ+ urban activisms," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(7), pages 1305-1326, May.
    2. Emma Spruce, 2021. "The place of transversal LGBTQ+ urban activisms," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(7), pages 1520-1528, May.
    3. Stathis G. Yeros & Leonardo Chiesi, 2022. "Trans Territorialization: Building Empowerment beyond Identity Politics," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, September.
    4. Amin Ghaziani, 2021. "People, protest and place: Advancing research on the emplacement of LGBTQ+ urban activisms," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(7), pages 1529-1540, May.

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