Sarah Kammeyer
Dec. 20, 2021
Sarah Kammeyer, a graduate student in geography with an emphasis in human and cultural geography, recently took third place in the “master’s oral presentation” section at the virtual West Lakes Division American Association of Geographers (AAG) conference.
Kammeyer’s presentation was on her ongoing grad thesis “Queering Como,” which she plans to finish by Spring 2022.
“I’m basically trying to document and then map the queer geography of Columbia since 1990,” she said. “What I am finding is that there are not necessarily neighborhoods or areas of concentration, but, rather, generally marked places — mainly downtown — that support queer people or give space specifically for queer people.”
Kammeyer said she chose “Queering Como” as her thesis and presentation because of her personal relation to it as a queer person from Columbia. It also allowed her to explore her love of maps.
“I want to know about this topic for my own personal interests, but everyone benefits from having these kinds of stories and town history more illuminated,” she said. “It’s important to make sure these places exist and have existed.”
After graduation, Kammeyer plans to stay in Columbia working in a community-oriented career that helps improve the lives of others or our community in some way.
“If we do research, especially on marginalized communities, and that research doesn’t reach the community – then what’s the point?” she said. “One big goal is to somehow make sure my thesis work gets public so others can have a deeper understanding of what queer people experience in Columbia.”
