Queer Joy in Theory and Practice: Essays on Resistance, Thriving, and Liberation centers queer joy as a radical method of resistance and world-building in the face of rising homophobia, transphobia, and systemic violence. Rather than framing queer and trans lives solely through trauma, this groundbreaking collection explores how joy functions as a site of possibility, solidarity, and social change. This book bridges theory, research, and practice to examine queer joy across classrooms, communities, art, public spaces, and activism. With chapters on education, abolitionist politics, drag, parenting, street art, and festivals, this timely and interdisciplinary volume illuminates joy as a transformative force—one that refuses despair and instead imagines liberatory, life-affirming futures for queer and trans communities worldwide.

JJ Wright is an assistant professor of sociology and gender studies at MacEwan University and the co-editor of COVID and Campus Sexual and Gendered Violence (Peter Lang, forthcoming).

Casey Burkholder is Tier II Canada Research Chair and an associate professor at Concordia University and the co-editor of Facilitating visual socialities: Enacting ethical practices in visual research facilitation (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023).

Chapter 1: Queer Joy as Resistance: Radical Praxis for Queer Worldbuilding and Collective Liberation, JJ Wright and Casey Burkholder

Part 1: Theorizing Queer Joy as Epistemology
Chapter 2: “The Loving Queer Gaze:” The Epistemological Significance of Queer Joy, JJ Wright and Joshua Falek
Chapter 3: Indigiqueer Joy as Resistance, Autumn Asher BlackDeer
Chapter 4: Did Trauma Make Me Gay?: Finding Joy Through Queerness in the Aftermath of Trauma, Alessia Mastrorillo
Chapter 5: Where Do We Exist?: A Call to Queercrip Joy in Public Space Through Stimming, Jana L. Pickart and Scarlett Barclay
Chapter 6: “It Was the Happiest Moments of My Life”: Tomboy Joy in International Radicalized and (Gender)Queer Contexts, Cassandra Jean Joseph

Part II: The Queer Affects of Pedagogical Praxis
Chapter 7: Let’s Have a Human Rights Kiki: Unsettling Settler Colonial Influence with Queer and Indigenous Joy, Paul David Terry
Chapter 8: Joy as a Soft Horizon: Resisting Queer Erasure in Neoliberal Times, Wendasha Hall, Adam Davies, and Cameron Greensmith
Chapter 9: “There Wasn’t Any Tension, But It Wasn’t In A Way That Was Good:” Killing Queer Joy in English Higher Education, Pippa Sterk
Chapter 10: Nurturing Literacies of Joy: Pedagogical Practices for Supporting Queer, Transgender, and Diverse Students in Canadian High Schools, Macaulay Mauro
Chapter 11: Harmful Allyship and Queer Joy at New Brunswick’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Melissa Keehn
Chapter 12: Unearthing Black Queer and Trans Joy Through Black Queer Feminism, William E. Shelton II

Part III: Archiving Affects: Tracing Queer Joy Through Art and Activism
Chapter 13: Care Boi Stare: Shining Joy in t4t Projection Activism, Evie Johnny Ruddy
Chapter 14: The Threads that Bind Us: Lessons on Care and Resilience in a Queer Embroidery Circle, Brock Whitman Dishart
Chapter 15: Learning from Queer Failure: Using Counter-Narratives and Sangat (Community of Faith) Against Invisibilization, Manjot Multani, prabhdeep singh kehal, Karmine Kaur
Chapter 16: Picturing Joy: Queer Affects, Futurity, and the Possibilities of Picturebooks, Darby M. Babin and Shoshana Magnet
Chapter 17: Queer Joy in Carnival: A Pathway to Collective Liberation, Brian Boyce

Part IV: The Queer Joy of Home and Chosen Family
Chapter 18: Queer Joy and Playful Homing Practice: Drawing on Notes from and Island by Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä, Harry Ainscough and Emilie Bessing
Chapter 19: Queer Parenting as Resistance, Amelia Eppel and Kristen O’Sullivan
Chapter 20: Cops, Confetti, and Community: Reflections on Queer Joy and Resistance in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, Amelia Thorpe
Chapter 21: Conclusion: Holding onto Queer Joy amidst Mounting Anti-2SLGBTQ+ Conditions, Casey Burkholder and JJ Wright

Contributor Biographies
Index