Where is Your “Third Space”?
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- scarleteen staff/volunteer
- Posts: 189
- Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2024 12:10 pm
- Age: 27
- Awesomeness Quotient: I can and will reupholster anything
- Primary language: English
- Pronouns: She/they
- Sexual identity: Queer
- Location: Chicago, IL
Where is Your “Third Space”?
Hi everyone
I just started reading Adela Licona’s “Zines in Third Space: Radical Cooperation and Borderlands Rhetoric,” and it’s reignited my interest in the idea of a “third space.” For context, “Third spaces” are different from “third places.” You may have heard of “third places:” social places outside of work, school, and home where you can be yourself/relax in a social setting. On the other hand, third spaces, a term coined by Homi Bhabha in “The Location of Culture,” are places that allow you and others to negotiate your cultural and social identity.
I’ve been thinking about third spaces a lot because I recently realized that the place I go to outside of work and home is a place where I can be social and somewhat relaxed, but where my cultural and social identity isn’t necessarily affirmed at all, particularly as a queer person. It’s made me think about how important it is to have this outside space where you can be social AND be able to express your identity. So, I’m trying to think about what a “third space” might look like. Right now, I’m thinking there’s a community art space near my apartment that might be a space where I can “negotiate my identity,” as it were.
This leads me to my question for you all: Where is your third space? What aspects of this place make it feel out of the ordinary or transformative for you? If you can’t think of one, what would the ideal third space look like for you?
I just started reading Adela Licona’s “Zines in Third Space: Radical Cooperation and Borderlands Rhetoric,” and it’s reignited my interest in the idea of a “third space.” For context, “Third spaces” are different from “third places.” You may have heard of “third places:” social places outside of work, school, and home where you can be yourself/relax in a social setting. On the other hand, third spaces, a term coined by Homi Bhabha in “The Location of Culture,” are places that allow you and others to negotiate your cultural and social identity.
I’ve been thinking about third spaces a lot because I recently realized that the place I go to outside of work and home is a place where I can be social and somewhat relaxed, but where my cultural and social identity isn’t necessarily affirmed at all, particularly as a queer person. It’s made me think about how important it is to have this outside space where you can be social AND be able to express your identity. So, I’m trying to think about what a “third space” might look like. Right now, I’m thinking there’s a community art space near my apartment that might be a space where I can “negotiate my identity,” as it were.
This leads me to my question for you all: Where is your third space? What aspects of this place make it feel out of the ordinary or transformative for you? If you can’t think of one, what would the ideal third space look like for you?
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- scarleteen staff/volunteer
- Posts: 10299
- Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:06 am
- Age: 33
- Awesomeness Quotient: I raise carnivorous plants
- Primary language: english
- Pronouns: she/her
- Sexual identity: queer
- Location: Coast
Re: Where is Your “Third Space”?
Ooh, I like this question!
I actually found one of these spaces since I moved up to the coast. It's a pinball arcade, but it's one that's so clearly been designed as a community space. It stocks and sells zines about abortion, prison abolition, etc, and has a bunch of comfy chairs around a table where they keep a little community library of books. There's art in the vending machine and spaces where people can just sit and hang out, rather than the pressure to either be playing or leave (I'm also someone who finds pinball to be a pleasant background noise, so I don't find that element overstimulating). It's so clearly a space made by weirdos and dirtbags (affectionate), which tend to make me feel comfortable as a rule.
I actually found one of these spaces since I moved up to the coast. It's a pinball arcade, but it's one that's so clearly been designed as a community space. It stocks and sells zines about abortion, prison abolition, etc, and has a bunch of comfy chairs around a table where they keep a little community library of books. There's art in the vending machine and spaces where people can just sit and hang out, rather than the pressure to either be playing or leave (I'm also someone who finds pinball to be a pleasant background noise, so I don't find that element overstimulating). It's so clearly a space made by weirdos and dirtbags (affectionate), which tend to make me feel comfortable as a rule.
And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow/with smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go/turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain/and like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
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- not a newbie
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- Pronouns: she/her
- Location: Asia
Re: Where is Your “Third Space”?
I don't really have a fixed space to express myself yet, but at the moment it's on the street for me! I've been trying out different expressions going out to new places and activities where I can get a feel for whether a certain identity works for me. There's this volunteer program that asks for your pronouns on the signup sheet, which I thought was a nice touch and not common to see here.
I am still not comfortable outing myself to any of these circles, however, so I'm not sure how accepting the people would really be if they knew. It would be nice to have a regular third space though. My ideal would be something like a hangout/chill area where it's acceptable to be openly queer and won't raise any eyebrows.
I am still not comfortable outing myself to any of these circles, however, so I'm not sure how accepting the people would really be if they knew. It would be nice to have a regular third space though. My ideal would be something like a hangout/chill area where it's acceptable to be openly queer and won't raise any eyebrows.
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