Alan Lee

I am a techne-funded research student and visiting lecturer at the University of Roehampton. Currently in the third year of my thesis, my research aims to historicize the rainbow flag’s use within the transnational LGBTQ+ community. Since starting this project in 2022, however, I have come to realise that this symbol cannot be understood in isolation. Thus, my project considers the entanglements of the rainbow flag with other pride symbols, such as the pink and black triangles, the lambda and the labrys axe, and gender symbols such as the Venus and Mars symbols. Analysing the use of these symbols through, primarily, the Pride march has also inspired a queer-driven reinterrogation of the function and history of the Pride march. Using London as a case study, my thesis can best be understood by the current title: Symbols of Pride and the Politics of Queer Liberation. In July, 2024, I had the opportunity to share my working theorisations at the European Conference on Politics and Gender at Ghent University, taking my research to an international level.

I have an interest in the history of symbols, such as flags, being used in the process of community-based identity formation. My bachelor's dissertation explored the history of Weimar Germany's flaggenstreit (flag debate), where the revolutionary colours of black-red-gold were pit against the imperial colours of black-white-red representing competing visions of Germany. My master's dissertation followed on from this research, beginning with an exploration of the Allies efforts to tackle the swastika through denazification, continuing into the Cold War to explore how the two German states sought to craft distinct national identities through the use of the national flag. In January, 2024, I had the opportunity to present this research at the Institute of Historical Research, sharing how my innovative approach had led me to discover an overlooked period of Cold War tensions in divided Germany informed by the use of flags. I continue to work with my supervisor to consider how this dissertation could be transformed into an article for publication.

Taking this approach, and my subsequent experience further, I now aspire to specialise in queer history.