Description
Reflections on culture and the city within the field of International Relations (IR) has been dominated by perspectives interested on cultural projection, city branding and economic spillover due to international tourism. In this sense, this paper diverges from these interpretations and opts for a critical view drawing from queer theory in IR to reflect on the imagined construction of the “global urban space” trough the lenses of queer subjects and queer culture. Here, categories such as "identity," "intimacy," and "memory" play a significant role in rethinking the social and global function of tourism in a contemporary scenario, particularly in global and connected cities. The analysis centers on the Jotitour project in Mexico City, a non-hegemonic tourist experience based on recognizing individuals and stories from LGBT+ community. This enables new frameworks of imagination for the city and its international connections, revealing a history hidden behind commercial shop windows, churches, protected cultural venues, and government buildings. But it also invites to look for the international within spaces of intimacy.
