Rethinking Queer Kinship: LGBTIQ* Families with children in Central and Eastern Europe
Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe, diversity and identities, family studies, gender, interethnic relations – LGBTIQ* families, Kinship, queer kinship, sexuality
Grant-awarding entity: European Research Council Executive Agency. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Project website: https://queership.uw.edu.pl/en/
ABSTRACT
The marginalization of Central and Eastern Europe in queer kinship and family studies has created a critical gap in understanding global LGBTIQ* family dynamics. Dominant theories, shaped largely by Anglo-American contexts, often overlook the diversity of family structures and practices in other regions. QUEERSHIP addresses this gap through the first transnational, interdisciplinary study of queer kinship across Poland, Hungary, Czechia, and Croatia.
QUEERSHIP aims to develop the Multidimensional Sociocultural Model of Queer Kinships (MSMQK), challenging dominant paradigms and broadening the understanding of family, kinship, gender, and sexuality. Unlike most scholarship, which often focuses on same-sex families or separately on trans experiences, QUEERSHIP adopts a holistic approach by studying LGBTIQ* families together, considering all identities and relational practices within one framework. It also employs a multi-actor perspective, incorporating the voices of significant others, activists, and professionals alongside LGBTIQ* families.
Using a mixed and multi-methods approach, QUEERSHIP combines discourse analysis, longitudinal ethnography, focus group interviews, and a large-scale survey to comprehensively explore how LGBTIQ* families are formed, maintained, and displayed across diverse sociocultural and political landscapes. Additionally, it applies participatory action research to refine methods and keep the research responsive to participants’ lived realities.
By integrating diverse perspectives and employing a robust interdisciplinary framework, the project offers a groundbreaking approach that decentralizes and expands (queer) kinship and family studies. QUEERSHIP findings, innovative methodological approach, and the proposed MSMQK will impact scholarly debates in gender, queer and kinship studies, as well as postcolonial and post-socialist studies, paving the way for future research that better reflects the complexities of LGBTIQ* family lives.