A decolonial feminist stance on homonationalism through the case of LGBTIQ+ activism in Catalonia.

Western constructions of gender and sexuality are an effect of the project of Modernity. As such, these are linked to global geopolitical processes at the intersection of coloniality, patriarchy, and capitalism as systems (Grosfoguel, 2011), which produce cisheteronormativity and anti-LGBTIQ+ hate. To counter this particular oppression, LGBTIQ+ people have historically organised and created rich activist productions and experience. However, LGTBIQ+ activism is also produced within the confines of Modernity, which creates the conditions of possibility for an assimilation of their struggles by the matrix of domination. It is in this context where processes of homonationalism arose at the end of the last century as a co-opting of certain LGBTIQ+ liberation discourses towards the sustaining, upholding, and reproduction of the project of Modernity. Jasbir Puar (2007) proposed the term homonationalism to account for this process and set the basis for a postcolonial discussion on the matter. Current development of decolonial feminisms allow for deepening into the process of homonationalism from a perspective that seeks to dismantle the intimately articulated structures of coloniality, patriarchy, and capitalism that sustain it.In this communication, I discuss homonationalism from a feminist decolonial stance in the particular case of activism Catalonia. The present discussion draws from my doctoral research and it is based on the analysis of the current Catalan context as well as 14 Narrative Productions (following Montenegro et al. 2022). Field research was carried out with activists across Catalonia, belonging to different generations, subject positions, and relation to the public institutions. Research has brought a deeper knowledge on the way how LGBTIQ+ activism is itself a product and a constituent of the project of Modernity, and it points at crevices where sexual and gender dissidence activism is constructing transformative political proposals.