Due to an incredibly high volume of interest, participant sign-ups are temporarily suspended for this project while we get caught up and expand capacity. If you’d like to be notified when sign-ups open again, let us know by sending an email to queerjoystories@mailfence.com.

The Understanding Narratives of Queer Joy project, based in the Department of Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, is seeking volunteers to take part in a 30-90 minute interview about their experiences of queer joy, particularly those that are experienced outside the context of queer nightlife or queer sexual encounters. The study will document and analyze these stories as they are experienced and presented by queer people. We have a particular interest in documenting the rituals created by trans people to manage physically uncomfortable elements of their transition, such as hormone self-injection.

II am contacting you to invite you to participate in an audio- or video-recorded interview in which you will be asked to tell one or more stories of experiencing queer joy, whatever that means to you. Participants can choose to do individual interviews or can sign up as a group to do a shared group interview. Group interviews are made up entirely of self-selecting groups of  2 to 12 participants who sign up together, usually because they are members of a shared social group, family, or collective. Interviews will be held virtually over Webex, over the telephone, or, if it’s geographically feasible, in person at a mutually-agreeable location. Interviews may be conducted by me or by one of the students working with me on this project. Outcomes from the project may include peer-reviewed articles, presentations, books published on scholarly presses, and theses written by students involved in the project.

Participants must be over the age of 18 and legal adults where they live. To offset underrepresentation in existing scholarship, we are prioritizing participation from queer women, trans or gender-diverse people, BIPOC, and disabled people, though we welcome sign-ups from all queer people.

The proposal for this research has been reviewed by the Interdisciplinary Committee on Ethics in Human Research and found to be in compliance with Memorial University’s ethics policy. If you have ethical concerns about the research, such as your rights as a participant, you may contact the Chairperson of the ICEHR at icehr.chair@mun.ca or by telephone at 709-864-2861.