NBGN ☰ ×
bg_text fr_image

THESES

AND DISSERTATIONS

A repository for master’s theses and doctoral dissertations by BCSA and NBGN members. NBGN members can enter information about their thesis and upload pdfs, website administrators will approve final postings.

Buller men and batty bwoys: Hidden men in Toronto and Halifax Black communities

Abstract 275

This thesis was born of my desire to put forward a critical analysis of racialized heterosexism within Black diasporic communities. Central to this project is an elaboration of how such heterosexism is manifest as a form of bio-nationalism that is fundamental to many contemporary discourses of Black identity. The dual starting points of this analysis are the recent scholarly work theorizing the politics and socially transformative possibilities of Black same-sex practices [particularly in the work of Lorde, Mercer and Riggs] and my own experience growing up in Trinidad and living in Canada as a "buller man", one who is communally identified [and publicly embraces this identification] as participating in male same-sex practices. With a framework developed on this double basis, I then present a detailed study of 19 Black men who participate in same-sex practices on a variety of terms and with various degrees of family and community awareness of their desires and experiences. These interviews provide a unique perspective on an until now, hidden dimension of Black communal life in Canada. Stressed in the analysis of these interviews is how these men negotiate the structure of heterosexist and homophobic domination that define the circumstances of their lives in the Black communities of Toronto and Halifax. This domination is also traced to the discourses of Black nationalism and the Black church. I argue that this dominance enacts a regressive form of "bio-nationalism" which legitimates a regulatory politic that effectively excludes Black same-sexed men from membership in Black diasporic communities. I conclude with a consideration of the transformative vision for a Black communal consciousness that would embrace all its members. The findings in this dissertation highlight several educational, communicative and pedagogic issues for the contemporary educator to articulate a broader definition of Black nationalism, Black history and Black consciousness in Euro-Canadian/American contexts.

Share this research

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

Author

Crichlow, Wesley

Title

Buller men and batty bwoys: Hidden men in Toronto and Halifax Black communities

Subjects

Black Communities in Canada, Black Men, Black Nationalism, Heterosexism

Document Type

PhD dissertation

Source

University of Toronto

Language

English

Publication Date

1998