Cinematic Witnessing as Queer-Affirmative Expressive Arts Practice: A Phenomenological Study of Vicarious Healing Among LGBTQIA+ Elders in India
- Title
- Cinematic Witnessing as Queer-Affirmative Expressive Arts Practice: A Phenomenological Study of Vicarious Healing Among LGBTQIA+ Elders in India
- Creator
- David, Sonia; Sadasivan, Anupama
- Description
- This study examines the therapeutic and expressive potential of queer-themed Indian cinema as an arts-based intervention for LGBTQIA+ elders with trauma histories, positioning film-viewing as a structured modality of reflective witnessing and vicarious healing. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological design, the research engaged 12 LGBTQIA+-identified elders (six trans women and six cisgender gay men), aged 6073 years in India to explore how mirror scenes in cinema activate emotional resonance, memory retrieval, and identity integration. Narrative data from two rounds of in-depth interviews revealed four cross-cutting thematic clusters, Quiet Survival, Reclaiming Worth, Healing Mirrors, and Chosen Kinship, demonstrating how film functions as a psychologically containing, aesthetically mediated space for meaning-making. Grounded in intersectionality, affect theory, queer-affirmative trauma frameworks, and expressive arts therapy, the findings illustrate how cinematic encounters support affect regulation, narrative re-authoring, and embodied self-recognition. The study also highlights how caste, class, gender identity, and historical criminalization under Section 377 shape viewers readiness for and access to media-based healing, with trans Dalit elders articulating cinema as both an emotional refuge and a site of political affirmation. Overall, the research contributes an empirically anchored model for integrating film into creative arts therapies, offering a culturally responsive conceptual pathway for trauma-informed elder mental health practice within similar socio-cultural contexts. 2026 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
- Source
- Journal of Homosexuality;
- Date
- 01-01-2026
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Subject
- cinematic witnessing; Expressive arts therapy; Indian cinema; intersectionality; LGBTQIA+ elders; trauma recovery; vicarious healing
- Coverage
- David S., Department of Psychology, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University), Bangalore, India; Sadasivan A., School of Psychological Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed-to-be University), Bangalore, India
- Rights
- Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library
- Relation
- ISSN: 918369; CODEN: JHSXA
- Format
- online
- Language
- English
- Type
- Article
Collection
Citation
David, Sonia; Sadasivan, Anupama, “Cinematic Witnessing as Queer-Affirmative Expressive Arts Practice: A Phenomenological Study of Vicarious Healing Among LGBTQIA+ Elders in India,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 19, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/22641.