Be gay, do criminology? Affect, subjectivity, and relationality in anti-queer violence research

Abstract

As a nascent sub-discipline, queer criminology has been fundamentally concerned with questions about its identity and scope. Within these debates, several scholars have argued that queer criminology’s central purpose is to correct the discipline’s long-standing neglect of LGBTQ people’s experiences. However, queer criminology has predominantly addressed this neglect by focusing on the experiences of queer research subjects rather than queer researchers. By examining the experiences of three queer researchers conducting anti-queer violence research, this article explores the deeply affective nature of queer criminological work and its implications for contemporary debates about queering the field. It contends that queer research relies on the interconnectedness of intellectual and affective engagement with its subject matter in ways that challenge the discipline’s conventionally masculinist approach to knowledge production. Yet, it also shows that affective investments in queer criminological research are not inherently emancipatory—they can also entangle researchers in the same structures of domination and extraction that their work seeks to resist. On this basis, the article argues that queering criminology requires more than merely incorporating queer experiences into the discipline. It also demands recognising, activating, and engaging critically with the uniquely affective character of those experiences, including those of researchers themselves.