Learning Transforms

Alan Chaffe is a sessional professor at the University of Victoria’s Department of Economics and a PhD student in the Faculty of Education’s Leadership Studies program. Chaffe’s research is taking him across Canada to visit queer theatre festivals. Looking not at the actual content of the performances, but rather at the festivals themselves within the broader LGBTQ+ movement, Chaffe is researching what effects these festivals have on the communities that hold them and on society as a whole. Chaffe completed over 60 hours of interviews with 70 participants. His research is teaching us a lot about the ways communities are built and bonds are formed between performers. In towns that lack queer spaces, these kinds of festivals are depended on to fuel confidence for members of the LGBTQ+ community and also to help educate allies. In this episode, Chaffe talks more about the educational process fostered by these festivals and the ways in which they address broader social movements.