Reversing the Gaze onto my Queer Settler-Canadian-ness: A Dialogical Encounter with my Other

Authors

  • Ranjith Kulatilake York University

Keywords:

Queer/LGBTQ refugee resettlement, homonationalism, settler-colonialism, Indigenous Peoples, racism, homophobia, social work

Abstract

Using critical autoethnography, informed by Critical Race Theory and Marxist theory, as the research methodology, I explore my dual existence both as a disruptor and facilitator of settler-colonialism mediated by neoliberal capitalism. I realize that my racialized and sexualized existence as a settler immigrant, in a land that centralizes whiteness, is implicated in the dispossession of Indigenous Peoples. Even my activist drive to support Indigenous struggles stems from my settler desires to succeed, while my frontline work in queer refugee resettlement leads to homonationalist citizenship. My education in social work only stamps settler-colonialism. This is the story of many settlers, from the marginalized to those who think and act progressively: The market absorbs us to maximize profit. The question that permeated this engagement is: How does capitalism spectacularly put everybody to work, reaping its harvests? I propose that settlers—queer and straight—learn from Indigenous worldviews in working against capitalism.

Author Biography

Ranjith Kulatilake, York University

Ranjith Kulatilake, MSW (he/they) is PhD Student, School of Social Work, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada (ranjithk@my.yorku.ca).

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Published

2025-04-19

How to Cite

Kulatilake, R. (2025). Reversing the Gaze onto my Queer Settler-Canadian-ness: A Dialogical Encounter with my Other. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 31(1), 46–62. Retrieved from https://reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Reflections/article/view/2068