From marginalization to reimagination: an autoethnographic account of queer kinships, activism, and emancipation through queer entrepreneurship & enclaves

• View B's summary

ABSTRACT

Answering ongoing calls to bring unconventional and LGBT entrepreneurship to the forefront of entrepreneurial research (Marlow & Martinez Dy, 2018; Bakker & McMullen, 2023; Ratten, 2023), this paper uses autoethnographic data to explore the relationship between queer identity, queer enclaves, and queer entrepreneurship. Rather than focusing on the barriers faced by LGBT entrepreneurs, this paper offers an alternative account of how engaging with queer entrepreneurship can actually allow the queer entrepreneur to reimagine their future. A clear narrative of a shift from marginalization towards kinship, activism, emancipation, and ultimately, reimagination facilitated through participation in queer entrepreneurial enclaves is explored and explained. This paper contributes to the literature on social sustainability, entrepreneurship, and queer theory, by improving understanding of how separatist enclaves allow for identity affirmation and ability to participate in activist action.

BIOGRAPHY

B. Pick (they/them) is a Ph.D. Candidate in Entrepreneurship and Sustainability at Ivey Business School. They also hold an HBA from Ivey Business School, an Hon. BA in English and Cultural Studies from Huron University, and completed the Ivey Sustainability Certificate Program as an HBA. B’s work highlights intersections of entrepreneurship and social sustainability. Their dissertation is focused on 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs -- they are particularly interested in how entrepreneurship can be used to create more socially sustainable, queer futures. B draws heavily from their lived experience as a queer entrepreneur in their research, and employs queer, participatory, and post-qualitative methodologies and theories. In addition to their research, B is the Founder and CEO of CottageCoreCA, a queer jewelry business, and participates in 2SLGBTQIA+ activism and inclusion with the aim of creating a more socially sustainable future for their community, both within their research and their day-to-day life.