Queer Nightspots and the Sounding of Utopia

Abstract

I argue in this thesis that music and sound act upon queer patrons in nightspots (primarily clubs and bars) in ways that generate moments of what Jill Dolan calls utopian performatives. In this thesis I interweave theory with ethnographic fieldwork I conducted in local queer nightspots in Durham and Raleigh, North Carolina, and interviews with local DJs and individuals who frequent these spaces. This thesis illuminates the merits that the utopian performative has for the broader field of ethnomusicology, and proposes a new, sonic way of thinking of these moments. In my conclusion, I gesture towards some of the political implications of this sonic utopian thinking about queerness in contemporary society. Several years after the horrific shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016, imagining better futures for queer folk remains as vital as ever.Master of Art