Spaces & Flows: Ninth International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies

Abstract

This study outlines psychogeography as a way to document LGBT people’s experiences living in the Yorkshire area of the United Kingdom. We extend psychogeographical work to not only consider consumer capitalism, but also to conceptualise a gender-informed approach to doing psychogeography in psychology and neighbouring disciplines including geography. In our project, we undertook various walks with local people from across the LGBT spectrum, in order to explore memories, create art pieces to represent experiences of the area, and to document ‘queerness’ in places. We conducted psychogeographical walks in Huddersfield, Batley, Holmfirth and Manchester. Participants took photographs, drew DIY maps, and wrote reflective accounts of the walks. Analysis includes threading key themes from the photographs, audio, and written accounts by the participants. It is our view that further psychogeographical work is needed with LGBT people to consider their standpoints in relation to consumer capitalism as well as to further develop a feminist, queer, and LGBT informed approaches to psychogeographical research and practice.