Exiled in Paris The shaping of liminal masculinities

Abstract

This ethnographic research is about the study of the relations between LGBT North African asylum seekers in Paris, particularly men, and the volunteers of the associations assisting them during their asylum process. Volunteers in the LGBT associations that I have visited appeared to uphold a culturally specific way of ‘being LGBT’, one that may be thought of – or presented as – universal, although it is the product of a cultural model with specific rules, codes and languages. As a result, spaces of LGBT socialisation can be perceived as unwelcoming or even exclusionary for people whose way of living and expressing a sexual orientation or gender identity does not match with this dominant model. Through this research, I wanted to highlight how different expectations and understandings related to sexuality can affect the life experience of LGBT migrants both in the framework of the asylum process and during their socialisation in Paris. Narratives of victimisation, unequal power relations and the protection given by the refugee commissions only to those who are considered ‘credible LGBT’, contribute to the condition of liminality in which these migrants find themselves. This research builds upon my participatory observation over a period of nine months in two associations assisting LGBT migrants in Paris, and includes some semi-structured interviews conducted with both migrants and volunteers that are familiar with the functioning of the LGBT associations in and around Paris.