Queer in Rural Alberta (QuiRA) Project
About Us
Gabby Barber (they/she) is a fourth year Cultural Anthropology honours student at the University of Calgary. They are the co-president of the anthropology department club and a part of the Sustainable Development Goals Alliance at the university. As a queer person who has lived in Alberta for most of their life, Gabby has been interested in 2SLGBTQIA+ life throughout the province, but is particularly interested in rural Alberta because of the (very untrue!) idea that queer people only live in metropolitan areas. They also believe that it is essential to highlight and uplift all communities, but particularly ones that tend to be overlooked. In Gabby’s spare time, they’re usually reading, listening to a podcast, or playing guitar.
Why is this project important to Gabby?
Given Alberta's current political climate, one where a very conservative government deems it appropriate to encroach on the private lives of transgender children by proposing to take away gender affirming and life saving care, it feels important to make queer voices heard. Calgary and Edmonton are seen as hubs of 2SLGBTQIA+ life, at least compared to elsewhere in Alberta. I felt it necessary to show people that there is queer life all throughout the province. There is a great danger in overlooking these areas. It is important to lend rural queer communities support. I also believe that it is important to shine a positive light on these areas—rural Alberta isn't just cowboys, lifted trucks, and country roads! It's essential to dispel these overwhelming stereotypes and recognize the beautiful and unique queer communities that are being built.
Sabrina Perić (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Calgary. As co-director of the CFI-funded Energy Stories Lab, her current research focuses on understanding the role that individuals and communities play in determining energy transitions in Alberta. Through her primary research is on energy, she has spent a lot of time in rural areas and has been immensely inspired by the caring, strong, and visionary folks she has met in rural Alberta, particularly in the queer community.
Why is this project important to Sabrina?
We are at a critical juncture in terms of 2SLGBTQIA+ rights in Alberta, and research must be done with a view towards making a better and safer future for queer youth. As a queer researcher, I have always taken to heart Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s words from "Queer and Now": “I think many adults (and I am among them) are trying, in our work, to keep faith with vividly remembered promises made to ourselves in childhood: promises to make invisible possibilities and desires visible…to smuggle queer representation in where it must be smuggled and, with the relative freedom of adulthood, to challenge queer eradicating impulses.”