AT HOME AND IN EXILE

This thesis explores notions of the reconfiguration of “home” and “exile” in the experience of Salaam, the Muslim Queer Community in Toronto. Based on fieldwork that took place from 2004 to 2006, I examine diasporic practices and narratives of belonging to homes in exile. A main argument of this thesis is that queer Muslims’ notions of ‘home’ are understood through the experience of ‘exile’ and vice-versa. Their positioning as diasporic queer Muslims situates them on the borderzone of the larger Muslim and queer communities in Canada. By queering Islam and Islamizing queer identity, Salaam produces a third space that is located on the borderzone of queer spaces and Muslim spaces. I conclude that arrivals to ‘homes’ are always in the process of realization and experiences of exile are constantly shifting.