Clamorous Development and Queer Space

My research explores the politics, economy, history, and social geography of the Boystown neighborhood of Chicago. I look specifically at conflicts over issues of race, gender, sexuality, and space in the neighborhood, and how these conflicts are situated within the context of development. The submitted photograph was taken using a 10.1 megapixel Canon Power-Shot digital camera. In the foreground, is one of the rainbow pylons (often criticized for its phallic symbolism) erected in 1998 as part of a city-funded North Halsted Streetscape Project to mark the gay neighborhood of Boystown. In the background is a condominium building built almost a decade later, the residents of which sparked neighborhood controversy after fighting to subdue the noise emitted from the gay night club which it was built adjacent to. The photograph captures the material and symbolic structures that both define the neighborhood and represent the shifting political, economic, and historical currents that embody Boystown.