DefinePK

Abstract

Whenever new territorialization is formed for capital accumulation, concerns related to discrimination begin to incite within the existing life forms where system participation is prohibited because of class, colour, creed, and gender. This study aimed to uncover the potential of one such territory, that is the LGBTQ deterritorialization. Discourse Analysis and Interpretative Phenomenological Approach, helped uncover underlying social structures, power relations, and cultural meanings by examining participants’ language, perceptions, emotions, and meanings attributed to their gender identification. The concept of Deterritorialization, as expounded in the Philosophy of Giles Deleuze, further explored the nature of the process of capital accumulation and how LGBTQ communities in Pakistan may contribute towards its legitimization. By exercising non-probability convenience sampling, 12 respondents were selected for interviews to gain insight into their lived experiences as members of LGBTQ. After careful thematic analysis, deterritorialization (social, political, expressivity, desire), economic participation, culture (Heteronormativity, Stigmatization, Religiosity) and biology emerged as themes, which revealed that LGBTQ discourse is not a cause but rather an effect of the process of territorialization and deterritorialization in Pakistan i.e., the surfacing of LGBTQ communities in urban cities is a result of broader societal transformations, acceptance, legalization, cultural transitions, and/or involuntary visibility.