Dr. Amelia C. Thorpe (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Health at Dalhousie University, an Adjunct Professor in Education and Sociology at the University of New Brunswick, and a former Purdy Crawford/TD Bank Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology. A longtime activist and community leader, Amelia is interested in queer crip futurity, accessibility and community care, knowledge sharing, and intergenerational educational and solidarity work within 2SLGBTQI+ communities. Her research project, The Aging Rainbow, explores accessibility, 2SLGBTQI+ inclusion, health, and aging in New Brunswick.
Amelia’s research sits at the intersection of education, sociology, health, and advocacy, in a queer and liminal space shaped by questions of access, intergenerational connectivity, kinship, inclusion, resistance, and grassroots care. Drawing on feminist, critical queer, and crip theory, her methods include autoethnography, autotheory, participatory visual research, and action research for social change. She is the founder of ElderPride and ConneQT NB, co-founder of Illuminate Arts Festival, and a collaborator on numerous research projects focused on 2SLGBTQI+ youth and seniors. Explore Amelia’s projects.
The name Mad Queer is an intentional double entendre. It reflects Amelia’s identity as a Mad, queer, disabled, femme scholar and activist, and it gestures to the generative potential of necessary rage and resistance in the face of oppressive discourses and structures. This passion echoes Muñoz’s (2009) assertion that queerness is not yet here, and it fuels a commitment to embracing embodied rage, joy, and care in our collective fight for liberatory futures.
Research Foci
2SLGBTQI+ Aging and Accessibility
Exploring ageism, ableism, intergenerational connectivity, solidarity, and community leadership with gender and sexually-diverse seniors.
Queer and Crip Care
Disrupting and deconstructing discourses of ableism, heterosexism, transmisia, sanism, colonialism, racism, and fatphobia in community work and collectively imagining futures of change.
Knowledge Sharing
Facilitating intergenerational knowledge sharing and mentorship between seniors and young adults, focusing on lived experience, leadership, and learning.
Queer Crip Schools and Placemaking
Queering and cripping curriculum, policy, culture, and built environments in schools. Exploring the educational potential of queer placemaking.
Kinship and Chosen Family
Exploring chosen family, kinship, and mutual aid as infrastructure for futures of care, resistance, and intergenerational connection.
Digital and Social Isolation
Addressing the challenges of digital and social isolation within rural and aging communities and exploring new opportunities for connection.