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Ditch, Z, 2024. Locating regional cultures of drag in medium-sized English cities: an ethnographic case study of Nottingham’s drag scene. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.
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Abstract
This thesis interrogates the complex socioeconomic dimensions of regional drag performance scenes based in the Midlands through investigations of performers’ experiences and the infiltration of neoliberal ideologies into their practices. Shifting academic focus away from drag in metropolitan contexts to less-studied lesser-metropolitan contexts, the thesis utilises a methodological framework that combines (i) ethnographic interviews with local drag performers, (ii) participant observations, and (iii) social media analysis, and is framed by the case study of the mid-sized city of Nottingham’s drag scene.
The project poses that for local drag performers, the threats to their financial and occupational survival are heightened due to their local socioeconomic and geographic contexts. Therefore, local performers are forced to adopt entrepreneurial strategies in efforts to better situate their position in the hierarchies and economies that construct their drag scene. This thesis explores the entrepreneurial strategies that performers employ both in and around their local drag scene and on virtual social media platforms, and their socioeconomic effect on performers’ personal and occupational lives. Performers’ entrepreneurialism, here, seeks to grow their reputational growth, bolster their self-brands, and allows them to compete in oversaturated markets that already offer scarce employment opportunity.
Nottingham’s once rich queer cultural history has eroded over time through the persistent closure of independent queer venues in its night-time economy. Yet, Nottingham houses a complex and culturally rich drag scene which is highlighted by the abundance of drag performers still showcasing their artistry due to an ever-increasing popularity and demand for drag in the city. This project maintains a particular focus on the financial survival of both Nottingham’s drag scene and the performers who construct it, within a local night-time economy accommodating a very limited number of permanent LGBTQIA+-specific safe spaces. Despite the current popularity of drag facilitated by the drag publics generated by RuPaul’s Drag Race, and an arguably more accepting society, precarity and occupational instability continue to be crucial challenges for local performers to overcome. However, the local demand elicited through this lack of queer representation and visibility in Nottingham’s night-time economy has been opportunistically met by bars and event spaces owned by corporate and heteronormative chains. These non-queer spaces infrequently hold LGBTQIA+ events to profit from that demand. This neoliberal opportunism raises further issues for Nottingham’s local drag scene around queer safety and financial opportunity. Yet, in their navigation of this night-time economy and proactive facilitation of performance opportunities, local drag performers work towards a reclamation of the lost safe queer-spaces of Nottingham, and attempt to re-queer the city.
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Ditch, Z. |
| Contributors: | Name Role NTU ID ORCID |
| Date: | May 2024 |
| Rights: | This work is the intellectual property of Zack Ditch. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the owner of the Intellectual Property Rights. I declare that this thesis is my own work and that all critical and other sources (literary and electronic) have been specifically and properly acknowledged, as and when they occur in the body of my text. |
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Arts and Humanities |
| Record created by: | Melissa Cornwell |
| Date Added: | 31 Jan 2025 09:39 |
| Last Modified: | 31 Jan 2025 09:39 |
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52946 |
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1171-8635Actions (login required)
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