Towards a geography of queer temporalities: Time, space and rural–urban migrant gay men's exploration of sexuality in China

Abstract

Building on the geography of sexualities and queer temporality studies, this research investigates the entanglement of sexuality, time and space with a case study of rural–urban migrant gay men in China. Based on participant observations and in-depth interviews with 46 Chinese rural–urban migrant gay men, we identify three forms of queer temporality – queer biographical time, queer life stage, and queer clock time – emerging from Chinese gay men's life stories. We also demonstrate how these different forms of queer temporality are conditioned by and influence certain spatial practices among our informants. In doing so, this analysis contributes to the geographical research on sexuality by challenging the rural/urban dichotomy in the existing literature on the one hand, and exploring the possibilities for a geography of queer temporality on the other.