Hannah Johnson

Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Master of Arts

Topic

Occluded Stories: Thematic Examination of Queerphobia in the Biographic Reception of Fryderyk Chopin and George Sand

School of Child and Youth Care

Date & location

• Monday, April 22, 2024
• 10:00 A.M.
• Virtual Defence

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Doris Kakuru, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria (Supervisor)
• Dr. Jennifer White, School of Child and Youth Care, UVic (Member)

External Examiner

• Dr. Allie Slemon, School of Nursing, UVic

Chair of Oral Examination

• Prof. Conrad Alexandrowicz, Department of Theatre, UVic

Abstract

<p align=justify>One form of marginalization that queer people face today is how the erasure and distortion of our cultural histories by a cis-heteronormative society contributes to us feeling alienated from our past and lacking connection to our own queer dead. With current global surges in trans- and homophobic violence that often frames queerness as illegitimate, a fad, or an invasive import, now is a pivotal time to locate and dismantle systemic barriers that keep queer history out of the hands of the living community. Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) and pieces of Narrative Inquiry, this thesis reviews English-speaking biographical and scholarly sources spanning over 170 years about the lives of two queer historical figures from the 19th century - Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin and their partner French author George Sand - and uncovers themes of latent queerphobia across the literature. Informed by theoretical approaches such as the Death Positivity movement and Judith Herman’s concept of the ‘witness’ in the role of trauma healing, this work highlights how undoing this erasure can be both resistive and affirming - but also, potentially, a means of ameliorating systemic trauma. Ultimately, the research demonstrates a thread of discursive delegitimization within the stories we tell about the queer dead that obscures queer possibility from view, negatively impacts the well-being of living queer communities, and is indicative of systemic efforts to regulate queer narratives and in doing so, sanction violence. As a result of this research, I call on scholars to begin to acknowledge how the legitimizing force of academia has been partially complicit in reifying these themes and disseminating them into our broader culture; for counsellors and CYFC practitioners to learn about the cultural histories of their queer clients and familiarize themselves with common societal mechanisms of queer erasure; and for us all to begin to get curious about where our received notions about the past came from and who is missing from our public memory.