Visualizing Belonging for Black LGBTQ+ College Students
Black LGBTQ+ students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) navigate complex institutional environments that simultaneously affirm their racial identities while often marginalizing their sexual orientations and gender identities. While existing research documents these challenges, limited scholarship examines how these students actively employ cultural assets to create affirming spaces while developing their intersectional identities. This study addresses this gap by applying the theoretical framework of queer cultural capital—including aspirational, familial, navigational, resistant, linguistic, and transgressive forms—alongside quare theory to examine student agency and resilience.
This research investigates how Black LGBTQ+ students at HBCUs visually document and narrate their experiences of utilizing queer cultural capital to develop intersectional identity affirmation and sense of belonging. The study shifts from deficit-based approaches to an asset-based framework that centers student agency, examining how students navigate, resist, and transform institutional spaces while building supportive communities.
Employing photovoice as the primary visual methodology, this qualitative study will engage approximately Black LGBTQ+ students across at an HBCU. Participants will complete three two-week photo-taking periods focused on spaces of belonging, navigating institutional structures, and intersectional identity experiences. Data collection includes participant-created photographs with captions, individual photo-elicitation interviews, environmental scanning of campus spaces, and collaborative reflection workshops. Analysis will utilize participatory visual analysis, thematic coding, and spatial mapping to examine how students develop and deploy various forms of cultural capital across campus contexts.
