Curriculum of Place, the Hypermasculine Imperative, and the Critical Education of a Southern Cop
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Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Summer 2013 The Laughter Behind: Curriculum of Place, the Hypermasculine Imperative, and the Critical Education of a Southern Cop Frank Gene Jordan Jr. Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons Recommended Citation Jordan, Frank Gene Jr., "The Laughter Behind: Curriculum of Place, the Hypermasculine Imperative, and the Critical Education of a Southern Cop" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 854. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/854 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE LAUGHTER BEHIND: CURRICULUM OF PLACE, THE HYPERMASCULINE IMPERATIVE, AND THE CRITICAL EDUCATION OF A SOUTHERN COP by FRANK GENE JORDAN, JR. (Under the Direction of Sabrina Ross) ABSTRACT This study examines the thoughts and ideologies that actuate the daily behaviors of Southern rural police officers as they pertain to practices consonant with social justice and equity. The research focus is the author’s own experience as a 21-year Southern rural police officer who ultimately obtained the position of chief of police while concurrently developing a firm commitment to ensuring social justice in his own practice and that of his subordinate police staff. The central question asks how a White male police officer from impoverished and politically and socially conservative ancestral roots could acquire a sincere concern for, and devotion to, social justice, and if the experience can be replicated to affect the thoughts, practices, and behaviors of other police officers. Methodologically and theoretically, the question is filtered through the lens of critical autoethnography, or the analysis of personal experience through an examination of personal stories framed by the tenets of critical social theory and encompassing some aspects of postmodernism, poststructuralism, and psychoanalysis to identify pertinent cultural, and in the instant case, subcultural, elements. The researcher’s hypothesis is that Southern rural police officers, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, or other applicable demographic or social factors, are inordinately motivated by the hypermasculine imperative, a pathological masculinity that not only encourages, but virtually demands, that police officers maintain their sense of hypermasculine identity at all costs. In the author’s view, the research bears out this contention yet he proposes that the principles of critically engaged education and pedagogy (CEEP) can mitigate many, if not all, of the most pernicious effects of the hypermasculine imperative by promoting the adoption of a critical thinking philosophy and the development of critical social awareness among police officers through their promulgation in formal and informal training venues and through the intercession of police managers who have themselves adopted a philosophy of seeing police work as a serious commitment to social justice. INDEX WORDS: (Dis)placement, A Man, Critical autoethnography, Critical social awareness, Critical thinking philosophy, Critically engaged education and pedagogy (CEEP), Curriculum as hypermasculine text, Curriculum of Southern hypermasculine place, Curriculum of Southern place, Displaced-in-place, Hypermasculine imperative, Micro-Souths, Parallel alternative identity (PAI), Pathological hypermasculinity, The Man 2 THE LAUGHTER BEHIND: CURRICULUM OF PLACE, THE HYPERMASCULINE IMPERATIVE, AND THE CRITICAL EDUCATION OF A SOUTHERN COP by FRANK GENE JORDAN, JR. Bachelor of Science, Troy University, 2006 Master of Science, Troy University, 2007 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2013 3 © 2013 FRANK GENE JORDAN, JR. All Rights Reserved 4 THE LAUGHTER BEHIND: CURRICULUM OF PLACE, THE HYPERMASCULINE IMPERATIVE, AND THE CRITICAL EDUCATION OF A SOUTHERN COP by FRANK GENE JORDAN, JR. Major Professor: Sabrina Ross Committee: Robert Lake John A. Weaver Reta Ugena Whitlock Electronic Version Approved: June 2013 5 DEDICATION To my best friend and most ardent supporter, my loving wife, Diane Jordan. With her encouragement and love, I have discovered abilities that did not know I had, experienced sentiments that I had not previously felt, and learned precisely what love should be. She is the perfect complement to an imperfect me. 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS An old saying maintains that no one gets anywhere worth going without the help of others, an idea that, based on my experience, is a simple truism. With this in mind, I take this singular opportunity to recognize those in my life who have assisted me in reaching this milestone in my life. To my parents, Ed and Juanell Ford, who do not always understand me, yet have unerringly supported me, notwithstanding the endeavor or circumstance. I admire them for consistently doing what, sadly, most people fail in: their best. Anyone can be loving and supportive occasionally and especially during the best of times, but real parental love is manifest in supporting a child during the worst that comes. Thank you both for being there through divorce, career changes, penurious days, and chopped up furniture. I love you both, and thank you for being my biggest fans. To my friend, colleague, and doctoral classmate, Lisa Heusel, whose irrepressible enthusiasm and unswerving encouragement alone would be sufficient for inclusion here but whom I thank more for showing me the theoretical light when I had difficulty seeing it for myself. She knew I was an inveterate, dyed-in-the-wool critical theorist when I did not know exactly what critical theory was. Thank you, Lisa, for allowing me to experience your passion for life, for your devotion to the field of education, and for helping us all remember that even the most serious scholarship has a lighter side. To the eminent professors of Georgia Southern University in the Curriculum Studies program and all those involved in the field of curriculum studies who are devoted to seeing education through the variegated lenses of reason, tolerance, nurturance, and love. Opening minds, lowering barriers, and contributing substantively to the field of education with the aim of 7 facilitating social justice is a never-ending struggle, often accomplished by enlightening one mind at a time, yet, a more noble endeavor I cannot conceive. I also wish to acknowledge the esteemed members of my dissertation committee at Georgia Southern University who not only offered learned guidance to facilitate this research but for their compassion and gentle suasion. Dr. Robert Lake, whose support started with a phone call from a neophyte doctoral student whom he did not know but whom he immediately agreed to assist and did so admirably and patiently throughout; Dr. John A. Weaver, whose devotion to scholarship and to acting positively upon his world was immediately, and remains enduringly, inspirational to me; Dr. Reta Ugena Whitlock, whose work enlightened me and whose peerless advice continually lights my way; and to my dissertation chair, Dr. Sabrina Ross, who recognizes that helping others to become “educated” means much more than elucidation of ideas and rote presentation of knowledge, it requires genuine and sustained compassion and caring. I see power, too, Dr. Ross, and thank you for helping to give a name to what I have always sensed before me. Perhaps no pursuit is possessed of more nobility of purpose than striving to ameliorate an unjust world, giving all of oneself to ensure that one has done something worthwhile to leave a better world than was found. Achieving justice in the world has proven a lifetime proposition for many dedicated persons throughout history, and it is these courageous, influential, and inspirational people that I wish to acknowledge here. The reader will recognize some names instantly, knowing them for their fame, infamy, or confused admixture of both. Other names will stir some inkling of recognition or none at all, possibly because their particular contributions are obscured by hate and bigotry, or simply because their chosen field of battle for social justice was insufficiently interesting to the casual reader or too intellectually recondite to achieve mainstream appreciation. Still others will be totally unrecognizable because they are 8 acknowledged here for their inspiration in my life only. Some names that might be expected to be seen here are not mentioned because they just were not that influential in my life, or, more significantly, having long ago learned the inestimable value of critical thinking and examining history through the lens of alternative perspectives, I have come to reassess, devalue, dismiss, or utterly condemn some historical personages that those less critically-inclined still hold in awe and undeserved esteem. Lucky for me, many years ago I explicitly adopted the Aurelian dictum and have since sought to “look things in the eye and know them for what they are.” Finally, the names listed here are of people influential for endeavoring