Queer Culture and Community: Identity, Belonging and Transformation with a specific focus on the Italian context

This thesis investigates how individuals who identify as queer perceive and construct a sense of culture and community, with a particular focus on the Italian context. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from cultural and community studies as well as queer theory, the research examines how queer individuals conceptualise queerness and negotiate belonging within broader social and cultural frameworks. Inspired by Berry’s acculturation model, the study further explores how queer identities are positioned between minority queer communities and the dominant cis-heteronormative culture. This framework offers a valuable lens through which to analyse the cultural negotiations involved in identity formation and how acculturation processes influence both individual and collective experiences. The research adopts a qualitative design with a mixed-methods approach, combining a semi-structured interview with a short questionnaire and a drawing task. Participants were queer-identifying individuals aged 18–30, all of whom were raised within the Italian cultural context. Findings highlight how processes of acculturation shape participants’ engagement with queer communities, revealing the complex interplay between personal identity and cultural understandings of queerness. The thesis concludes by discussing theoretical and practical implications, underlying limitations of this study and suggesting avenues for future research.