Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of Choice in Poland

232 Pages·2022·5.12 MB·English

by  Joanna Mizielińska

Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of
Choice in Poland
Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of Choice in Poland explores ways in which
queer families from Central and Eastern Europe complicate the mainstream picture
of queer kinship and families researched in the Anglo-American contexts.
The book presents findings from under-represented localities as a starting point
to query some of the expectations about queer kinship and to provide insights on
the scale and nature of queer kinship in diverse geopolitical locations and the com-
plexities of lived experiences of queer families. Drawing on a rich qualitative multi-
method study to address the gap in queer kinship studies which tend to exclude
Polish or wider Central and Eastern perspectives, it offers a multi-dimensional pic-
ture of ‘families of choice’ improving sensitivity towards differences in queer kinship
studies. Through case studies and interviews with diverse members of queer families
(i.e., queer parents, their children) and their families of origin (parents and siblings),
the book looks at queer domesticity, practices of care, defining and displaying fami-
lies, queer parenthood familial homophobia, and interpersonal relationships
through the life course.
This study is suitable for those interested in LGBT studies, sexuality studies, and
kinship and Eastern European studies.
Joanna Mizielińska holds DSs (habilitation) in Sociology, University of Warsaw, and
a PhD in Women’s Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Polish
Academy of Sciences. She was a Fulbright scholar at Princeton University working
under the mentoring of Professor Judith Butler, CIMO researcher at the Christina
Institute, University of Helsinki, and visiting scholar at the Centre for Baltic and
East European Studies, Södertörn University and the Department of Gender Studies
at Rutgers University. She currently works as Associate Professor at the Institute of
Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Her interests concentrate on queer
theory, queer kinship, and sociology of gender, sexuality, and families. Recently, she
was a Principal Investigator of the project “Families of Choice in Poland” (2013–
2016) and Co-Investigator in “Doing Right(s): Innovative Tools for Professionals
Working With LGBT Families” (2016–2020) and “Queer(y)ing Kinship in the Baltic
Region” (2016–2021). She is the author of Different or Ordinary? Families of
Choice in Poland (2017), Sex/Body/Sexuality (2007), and (De)Constructions of
Femininity (2004) and co-author of In Different Voices. Families of Choice in
Poland (2017) and Families of Choice in Poland. Family Life of Nonheterosexual
Persons (2015). She is co-editor of De-Centring Western Sexualities (Ashgate, 2011
and Routledge, 2016).
Transforming LGBTQ Lives
Series Editors:
Katherine Johnson (RMIT University, Australia)
Kath Browne (University College Dublin, Ireland)
Transforming LGBTQ Lives hosts the best international scholarship on
contemporary Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Queer (LGBTQ) issues.
Innovative, interdisciplinary and intersectional, the series showcases theo-
retical and empirical research that fosters debate, pushes disciplinary
boundaries and shapes activism. Extending feminist and queer scholarship
through attention to a wide set of disciplinary influences (sociology, psy-
chology, human geography, media and cultural studies, social policy, leisure
studies, sports studies, political science), topics address the diversity of
LGBTQ lives.
Recent titles in series:
The Everyday Lives of Gay Men
Autoethnographies of the Ordinary
Edited by Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans and Jason Holmes
Queer Roma
Lucie Fremlova
Queer Kinship on the Edge? Families of Choice in Poland
Joanna Mizielińska
For more information about this series, please visit: www.Routledge.com/
Transforming-LGBTQ-Lives/book-series/LGBTQLIVES
Queer Kinship on the Edge?
Families of Choice in Poland
Joanna Mizielinska
́
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 Joanna Mizielińska
The right of Joanna Mizielińska to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.
com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mizielińska, Joanna, author.
Title: Queer kinship on the edge? : families of choice in Poland / Joanna Mizielińska.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2022.
| Series: Transforming LGBTQ lives | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022000648 (print) | LCCN 2022000649 (ebook)
| ISBN 9780367860387 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032290980 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003016571
(ebook)
| ISBN 9781000607154 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781000607185 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Queer theory--Poland. | Transgender children--Family relationships--Poland.
| Sexual minority youth--Family relationships--Poland. | Sex--Social aspects--Poland.
| Sexual minorities--Legal status, laws, etc.--Poland.
Classification: LCC HQ76.3.P7 M597 2022 (print) | LCC HQ76.3.P7 (ebook)
| DDC 306.7609438--dc23/eng/20220228
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000648
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000649
ISBN: 978-0-367-86038-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-29098-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-01657-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003016571
Typeset in Sabon
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
To all my informants and chosen families everywhere

Contents
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Polishing Queer Relational Trajectory 38
3 Ain’t We a Family? 67
4 Communicating Vessels: Relations with Families of Origin 96
5 Queer(ing) Parenthood 124
6 Queer Spawn Talks Back 159
7 Conclusions 188
Appendix: Methodology 196
Bibliography 200
Index 218
Figures
3.1 Family map drawn by Adam (reconstructed) 73
3.2 Family map drawn by Kazimiera (reconstructed) 83
5.1 Family map drawn by Klara (reconstructed) 130
6.1 Family map by Wictoria (reconstructed) 163
6.2 Family map by Gabrysia – first approach
(reconstructed) 163
6.3 Family map drawn by Gabrysia – second approach
(reconstructed) 164
6.4 Family map drawn by Darek (reconstructed) 166
Acknowledgements
The project Families of Choice in Poland was funded by the Polish Ministry
of Science and Higher Education programme Ideas Plus, research grant
number IdP2012000462.
This book would not have been possible without the support of many
people – first of all, the editors of the whole series, Kath Browne and
Katherine Johnson, who helped to shape its vision with their expertise and
advice; then, reviewers on all stages of the book production who encourage
me to re-think some of its threads. I would like to thank all who read the
manuscript at different stages for their comments and insights – Krzysztof
Fordoński for professional proofreading; Antu Sorainen, Ulrika Dahl, and
Raili Uibo for our Baltic dialogue on queer kinship; always already Agata
Stasińska, for her constant help and inspiration in divine and ordinary
moments.