Warm from the press, this paper is dedicated to the first group of Youth Theatre Project participants from my Master’s thesis study – all eight of you have taught me so much and have inspired my current research trajectory. I’m glad many of you are still in my life and I treasure and value all of you!

This paper explores how these eight participants navigated belonging, safety, and queer legitimacy within a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop space. These themes are resonant in both my personal life (as a researcher in a fairly new environment) and my ongoing research, so this paper is extra special!

Also, ever grateful to my comrades on this paper: Jungup Lee as always, for pushing me forward; and kayos kollective folks for trusting in my process and putting up with my various asks over the past few years. This paper went through multiple desk and peer review rejections (all of which hurt me deeply and personally; I’m just a fragile little academic boy) but I’m glad it finally found a home in Culture, Health & Sexuality.

The full paper can be read here. This paper is behind a paywall so please reach out if you’d like access and I’ll gladly send you a copy.

Happy to chat with anyone if you have thoughts about this study/papers as well!