“You won’t break my soul”: Practicing Queer Joy and Resilience with LGBTQ+ Refugees

Abstract

This article explores the practice of queer joy and resilience among LGBTQ+ refugees through participatory music and storytelling sessions facilitated in a shelter context. Grounded in the Empowering Song approach, as authors, our work centers on co-creating spaces where participants—queer and trans youth displaced by systemic violence and persecution—can engage in identity negotiation and self-expression. Through an intentional process of collaborative music-making, artistic creation, and storytelling, we investigate how participatory art fosters healing, challenges societal norms, and cultivates community solidarity.

Reflecting on our dual roles as facilitators and learners, we examine themes of identity construction, "passing," and visibility, exploring the intersections of positionality and power within these shared spaces. Drawing on rhizomatic and narrative methodologies, we articulate the complex interplay between identity, pedagogy, and the transformative potential of creative expression. Central to our enquiry is the concept of queer joy as an act of radical resistance and a strategic move toward reimagining futures beyond oppression.

By interweaving our own positionalities with the voices and creations of the participants, we highlight the relational and unpredictable nature of participatory practices. This work challenges conventional approaches to music education, emphasizing a pedagogy rooted in humility, openness, and the collective creation of knowledge. Ultimately, this article invites readers to reimagine participatory art as a dynamic site for healing, resistance, and the reclamation of marginalized narratives.