DOCSLIB.ORG

Harry Potter and Queering the College Classroom

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Harry Potter and Queering the College Classroom The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Doctoral Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects 12-2019 Harry Potter and Queering the College Classroom Hannah Yanow Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/diss Part of the Higher Education Commons The University of San Francisco HARRY POTTER AND QUEERING THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the School of Education Organization and Leadership Studies Department In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education By Hannah Yanow San Francisco December 2019 THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO Dissertation Abstract Harry Potter and Queering the College Classroom This dissertation reimagines the college classroom through a queer pedagogical practice that, I argue, results in a queer space. Through a mixed method study that utilized duoethnography and student survey, I find that queer pedagogy, or the resistance of heteronormativity, challenging binaries, welcoming the student’s lived experience as fodder for learning academic concepts, paired with a beloved fantasy text such as Harry Potter, can be a medium with which to deconstruct the traditional college classroom and reconstruct a queer space that encourages student self-authorship and questioning of the traditional hierarchy in higher education. The data suggests that queering the college classroom in these ways increases students’ feeling of belonging and ownership of their education, encourages sitting in discomfort and not-knowing, invites student-led discussion and revelation, increases learning and retention, and is pedagogically effective in addressing societal concepts around marginalization, biases, oppression, and socially constructed binaries. This dissertation is an invitation to students to own their learning process, and for faculty to re-evaluate their pedagogical practices and choice of text. ii This dissertation, written under the direction of the candidate’s dissertation committee and approved by the members of the committee, has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education. The content and research methodologies presented in this work represent the work of the candidate alone. Hannah Yanow _ December 3, 2019 Candidate Date Dissertation Committee Danfeng Koon _ December 3, 2019 Chairperson Ursula Aldana _ December 3, 2019 Nicola McClung _ December 3, 2019 Alejandro Covarrubias _ December 3, 2019 iii DEDICATION An eternal thank you to the love of my life, Ricardo, for believing in me, loving me, and for listening to me talk about queerness and Harry Potter for the last two years. I am filled with gratitude for my parents, Anne and Danny. Thank you for making my life possible, supporting my education, and for being the best example of loving parents that I could imagine. And finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my child who is currently having a dance party in my belly. I love you. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of my dissertation chair, Dr. Danfeng Koon. Thank you for being my mentor throughout this degree and navigating the dissertation process. Thank you for being the first person to tell me that I was the perfect person to do this research, and that yes, it was a valid topic. Thank you to my dissertation committee, Dr. Nicola McClung, Dr. Ursula Aldana, and Dr. Alejandro Covarrubias, your feedback and excitement for my work carried me through this process. A huge thank you to Maeve Mulholland with whom I was lucky enough to be put in a pair in the dissertation proposal writing course and remained editing partners with for the following year. Your guidance, wisdom, and keen eye helped me exponentially on my intellectual and emotional journey. Thanks to Dr. Julye Bidmead who engaged in the vulnerable and ambiguous process of the duoethnography with me to make this research possible. Your passion and dedication to teaching is changing lives. And finally, thank you to the students who took our courses and participated in the student survey and shared your thoughts and experiences. You are changing the trajectory of what the college classroom can be. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DISSERTATION ABSTRACT ii SIGNATURE PAGE iii DEDICATION iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v LIST OF TABLES ix CHAPTER ONE: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 1 Statement of the Research Problem 1 Background and Need 2 Purpose of the Study 6 Research Questions 7 Educational Significance 8 Summary of the Harry Potter Narrative 9 Definitions of Terminology 10 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 13 Overview 13 Critical Pedagogy 13 Queer Pedagogy & Queer Space 15 Harry Potter as Text 20 Queer Theory Within Higher Education 25 College Student Development 28 Summary 30 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 32 Introduction 32 Duoethnography 33 Doing the Duoethnography 34 Student Survey 37 Participants & Data Collection 38 Participant Response Demographics 41 Ethical Considerations 44 vi Positionality 44 Data Analysis Procedure 46 CHAPTER FOUR: DUOETHNOGRAPHY RESULTS 48 Overview 48 Introduction 49 Starting the Duoethnography 53 Research Question One: Course Origin Stories and the Development of Curriculum 54 Research Question Two: Practicing Implementation and Exploring Pedagogy 60 Research Question Three: Change Over Time and Seeing Student Development in Response to the Incorporation of the Harry Potter text 69 Why Harry Potter? 72 Conclusion 80 CHAPTER FIVE: STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS 82 Overview 82 Introduction 82 First Impressions 84 Getting into Specifics 85 Blurring the Lines 85 The Gender Divide 85 Queer Recognition 86 Student Survey Findings 87 Emergent Themes 87 Research Question One: Student Experience of Curriculum 88 Critical Thinking and Reading 88 Research Question Two: Student Experience of Implemented Pedagogy 90 Establishment of Space 91 Feeling of Belonging 92 Open-Mindedness 95 Research Question Three: Student Perspective of the Influence of Harry Potter in the College Classroom 96 Feeling of Ownership and Student-led moments 97 vii Concepts from HP Informed Student Retention and Relatedness to Learnings 99 Conclusion 100 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, & RECOMMENDATIONS 103 Overview 103 Summary of the Study 103 Concepts of Queerness, Curriculum, and Harry Potter Text 104 Queer Pedagogy, Queer Space, and Harry Potter Text 108 The Influence of the Harry Potter Text on Student Identity and Learning 112 Limitations 114 Conclusions 116 Implications 117 Methodology as Praxis 117 Queer Pedagogy and the Harry Potter Text 118 Recommendations 120 Future research 120 Future practice 121 For Students 121 For Faculty 122 Closing Remarks 123 REFERENCES 125 APPENDICES 133 Appendix A - Character Index 133 Appendix B - Possible Topics for Duoethnography 137 Appendix C - Student Survey 139 Appendix D - Hogwarts Acceptance Letter 143 Appendix E - Prefect Tasks & Welcome Letter 144 Appendix F - Sorting Ceremony Script 150 Appendix G - REL 333 Syllabus 152 Appendix H - Chapman Student Presentation 158 viii Appendix I - NDNU Harry Potter Fair 174 Appendix J - NDNU Student Project 181 Appendix K - PSY 2886-01 Syllabus 184 Appendix L - Phoenix Projects Guidelines 191 Appendix M - Dear J.K. Rowling, Reflection #1 193 Appendix N - Dear Luna, Reflection #1 200 Appendix O - Dear Mr. Potter, Reflection #1 202 Appendix P - Respondent Number and Course Taken 206 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 - Age range 42 Table 2 - Gender Identity (self-identified) 42 Table 3 - Sexual Orientation (self-identified) 42 Table 4 - Ethnic Identification (self-identified) 42 Table 5 – Home state/Home Country (self-identified) 42 ix 1 CHAPTER ONE: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Statement of the Research Problem In the Fall of 2017, I taught a self-created course called Psychology and Harry Potter at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) during which the classroom was seemingly transformed. The classroom blossomed into a space which appeared to be, and succeeded by being, student-driven, resistant to the traditional college classroom hierarchy, critical in thought, vulnerable in emotionality, and engagement from, and amongst, all of the individuals (faculty and students alike) in the space. Students reported that they felt a sense of connection and community to their peers and the faculty that they had never felt in any other college classroom before. I set out to explore why. College can be a restrictive place for some; it can be exclusive and elitist. In other ways, it can allow us to soar above and beyond anything we thought possible. It can make space for thoughts to bounce off walls and minds to be expanded. As it stands now, however - I see more often than not - college space is one in which the student is silent, and the faculty is standing in front of the classroom imposing knowledge onto the minds in the room. This is not teaching, this is dumping, memorization, and regurgitation. Paolo Freire (1970) describes a similar idea of a ‘banking’ system in which the student is merely a receptacle of knowledge. In agreement with Freire, from the perspective of queer theory and pedagogy I propose a new type of college classroom: a queer space which aims to be student- centered, deconstructs and reconstructs societal norms, and models a space for students to think queerly about things which may be traditionally held as fact in normative society. I 2 explore and put forth a queer pedagogy, rooted in critical theory and pedagogy, and stemming from queer theory, in order to queer the college classroom space. This queer college classroom space is inclusive, exploratory in thought, against binary, noncategorical, and grounded in exploring the unknown (Kumashiro, 2012). To embark on this journey of discovery as to why the course Psychology and Harry Potter was successful in creating community and ownership for the students, as well as how the classroom was queered, I engaged in duoethnography (Norris & Sawyer, 2012) and survey methodologies. Duoethnography, being the dialogic process between two co-researchers to explore a shared phenomenon, places the researchers’ experiences at the forefront of the data.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Educators Envisioning Queering Schools Praxis Through Critical Participatory Action Research
    Queering as a Critical Imagination: Educators Envisioning Queering Schools Praxis Through Critical Participatory Action Research by Lindsay Cavanaugh (she/her) BA, Queen’s University, 2014 BEd, University of Victoria, 2015 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction © Lindsay Cavanaugh, 2019 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Queering as a Critical Imagination: Educators Envisioning Queering Schools Praxis Through Critical Participatory Action Research by Lindsay Cavanaugh (she/her) BA, Queen’s University, 2014 BEd, University of Victoria, 2015 Supervisory Committee Dr. Kathy Sanford, Curriculum & Instruction Supervisor Dr. Lindsay Herriot, Curriculum & Instruction Departmental Member iii Abstract It is well documented that hetero/cisnormativity is prevalent in schools. Queerness predominantly enters schools through anti-Queerphobia work, efforts to protect and include “at risk” gender and sexually creative youth from overt violence and discrimination. ‘Normative’ conceptions about gender and sexuality, however, are not just present in overt gender policing; they lurk in how Queer (LGBTQIA2S+) people are constructed as (in)visible, ‘humourous’, and brave/excessive in and around schools. Hetero/cisnormativty – a hegemonic discourse that interlocks with colonialism, patriarchy, and neoliberalism – is at the heart of why gender and sexually expansive people are not thriving in schools. Mainstream efforts to protect and include Queer people (particularly youth) do not combat hetero/cisnormativity. By focusing solely on the ways that Queer youth are suffering in schools, these strategies absolve schools of looking deeply at how they (re)produce norms and hierarchical, non-reciprocal relationships through space, curriculum, and pedagogy that negatively impact everyone.
    [Show full text]
  • Queering Education: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Policy
    Occasional Paper Series Volume 2017 Number 37 Queering Education: Pedagogy, Article 10 Curriculum, Policy May 2017 Queering Education: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Policy Follow this and additional works at: https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series Part of the Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Disability and Equity in Education Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Education Policy Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, and the Social Policy Commons Recommended Citation (2017). Queering Education: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Policy. Occasional Paper Series, 2017 (37). Retrieved from https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series/vol2017/iss37/10 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by Educate. It has been accepted for inclusion in Occasional Paper Series by an authorized editor of Educate. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Queering Education: Pedagogy, Curriculum, Policy Introduction Guest Editor: Darla Linville Essays by Denise Snyder Cammie Kim Lin Ashley Lauren Sullivan and Laurie Lynne Urraro Clio Stearns Joseph D. Sweet and David Lee Carlson Julia Sinclair-Palm Stephanie Shelton benjamin lee hicks 7 1 s e 0 i 2 r e S r e p April a P l a n io s a 7 c c 3 O Occasional Paper Series | 1 Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory and Practice for Composition Studies
    Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2008 Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory and Practice for Composition Studies Jonathan Alexander Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Alexander, J. (2008). Literacy, sexuality, pedagogy: Theory and practice for composition studies. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LITERACY, SEXUALITY, PEDAGOGY LITERACY, SEXUALITY, PEDAGOGY Theory and Practice for Composition Studies JONATHAN ALEXANDER UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS Logan, Utah 2008 Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322–7800 © 2008 Utah State University Press All rights reserved ISBN: 978-0-87421-701-8 (paper) ISBN: 978-0-87421-702-5 (e-book) Portions of chapters three and four of this work were previously published, respectively, as “‘Straightboyz4Nsync’: Queer Theory and the Composition of Heterosexuality,” in JAC, and “Transgender Rhetorics: (Re)Composing the Body in Narratives of Gender,” in College Composition and Communication. These texts have been revised and are reprinted here with permission. Manufactured in the United States of America Cover design by Barbara Yale-Read Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Alexander, Jonathan. Literacy, sexuality, pedagogy : theory and practice for composition studies / Jonathan Alexander. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-701-8 (pbk.
    [Show full text]
  • Queer Pedagogy and American Studies: a Reparative Re-Thinking
    QUEER PEDAGOGY AND AMERICAN STUDIES: A REPARATIVE RE-THINKING By NISHANT SHAHANI A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2006 Copyright 2006 by Nishant Shahani ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project has been profoundly shaped in scope, method and content by the vision of my director, Kim Emery. I began conceptualizing this project after taking three graduate seminars with Prof. Emery that were hugely influential in the conceptualization of this dissertation. The seminars have been truly performative in that they not only have shaped the way I theorize but also have greatly impacted my own pedagogy. I also wish to thank Prof. Emery for the time, energy and dedication that she devoted to me during the job market process. I am extremely grateful that she had faith in a project that had a strange archive and was difficult to market. At every step, from revising my job letter to checking my unselective use of commas, she has guided me during this very stressful part of my student career. I have greatly benefited from her intellectual abilities and I can only hope to emulate her as a scholar and a teacher. She has been the best mentor I could hope for. Special thanks go to Prof. Kenneth Kidd for his unwavering support and encouragement throughout my graduate career. His feedback on various chapters has been instrumental in giving my dissertation a direction and cohesiveness. His brilliance and dynamic energy have greatly impacted not only my academic work but also my graduate life in the English Department at UF.
    [Show full text]
  • AMAE Invited Issue Association of Mexican American Educators Journal
    Association of Mexican American Educators Journal A peer-reviewed, open access journal Volume 14 Issue 2 2020 AMAE Invited Issue Grounding Emerging Scholarship on Queer/Trans* Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Pedagogies Guest Editors José M. Aguilar-Hernández, Ph.D. Cal Poly Pomona Cindy Cruz, Ph.D. University of Arizona Editors Patricia Sánchez The University of Texas at San Antonio Antonio J. Camacho AMAE, Inc. Associate Editors Julie L. Figueroa Sacramento State Lucila D. Ek The University of Texas at San Antonio http://amaejournal.utsa.edu ISSN: 2377-9187 Aguilar-Hernández & Cruz Grounding Emerging Scholarship on Queer/Trans* Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Pedagogies José M. Aguilar-Hernández, Ph.D. Cal Poly Pomona Cindy Cruz, Ph.D. University of Arizona This invited special issue Grounding Emerging Scholarship on Queer/Trans*1 Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Pedagogies reflects new thinking that is grounded in queer and trans* of color and U.S. feminist of color theoretical and conceptual frameworks. This collection illustrates how queer and trans* Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x pedagogies are drawing from U.S. feminist of color writing and queer of color critique, highlighting important engagements not only in reclaiming and tracing our pedagogical practices in education but also new theoretical insights into queer and trans* scholarship that has taken creative interdisciplinary approaches to education research. The possibilities of the scholarship featured in the journal allows for fresh perspectives in youth studies and provocative embodied projects with Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x college students and their queer and trans* Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x instructors.
    [Show full text]
  • Uncovering Gendered Teaching Practices in the Early Childhood Classroom
    UNCOVERING GENDERED TEACHING PRACTICES IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOM April Larremore Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2014 APPROVED: Kelley King, Major Professor Francis van Tassell, Committee Member Carol Hagen, Committee Member Nancy Nelson, Committee Member James Laney, Chair of the Department of Teacher Education and Administration Jerry Thomas, Dean of the College of Education Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Larremore, April. Uncovering Gendered Teaching Practices in the Early Childhood Classroom. Doctor of Education (Early Childhood Studies), August 2014, 162 pp., references, 128 titles. For many early childhood teachers, interacting with children about issues concerning gender and sexuality is fraught with feelings of uneasiness and anxiety. For others, familiarity with research on these topics has resulted in rethinking their approaches to sex, gender, and sexuality in their early childhood classrooms. This inquiry examined the tensions associated with the researcher’s attempts to rethink gendered narratives and childhood sexuality in her own classroom. The study took place over the course of 4 months and involved a traditional public kindergarten classroom. Queer theory and feminist poststructuralism, along with a multi-voiced poststructural autoethnography were used to demonstrate the researcher’s shifting identities and the cultural context that shaped the researcher’s behaviors and perspective. Multivocal autoethnographic narratives were written
    [Show full text]
  • Queer Desires and Critical Pedagogies in Higher Education: Reflections on the Rt Ansformative Potential of Non-Normative Learning Desires in the Classroom
    Journal of Feminist Scholarship Volume 7 Issue 7 Fall 2014/Spring 2015 Article 7 Fall 2014 Queer Desires and Critical Pedagogies in Higher Education: Reflections on the rT ansformative Potential of Non-Normative Learning Desires in the Classroom Jennifer Fraser Birkbeck College, University of London Sarah Lamble Birkbeck College, University of London Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jfs Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Law and Gender Commons, and the Women's History Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Fraser, Jennifer, and Sarah Lamble. 2018. "Queer Desires and Critical Pedagogies in Higher Education: Reflections on the rT ansformative Potential of Non-Normative Learning Desires in the Classroom." Journal of Feminist Scholarship 7 (Fall): 61-77. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jfs/vol7/iss7/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Feminist Scholarship by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Queer Desires and Critical Pedagogies in Higher Education: Reflections on the Transformative Potential of Non-Normative Learning Desires in the Classroom Cover Page Footnote Our thanks to the two anonymous reviewers and several colleagues who read drafts and shared helpful comments about the themes of this paper. Thanks especially to
    [Show full text]
  • LGBTQ Inclusion As an Outcome of Critical Pedagogy Michelle L
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM): Digital Well University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well Education Publications Faculty and Staff choS larship 2016 LGBTQ Inclusion as an Outcome of Critical Pedagogy Michelle L. Page University of Minnesota - Morris, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/education Part of the Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons Recommended Citation Page, M. L. (2016). LGBTQ Inclusion as an Outcome of Critical Pedagogy. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 7(1), 115-142. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty and Staff choS larship at University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. It has been accepted for inclusion in Education Publications by an authorized administrator of University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRITICAL PEDAGOGY LGBTQ INCLUSION AS AN OUTCOME OF CRITICAL PEDAGOGY MICHELLE L. PAGE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MORRIS Abstract Students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) are at greater personal and academic risk than their het- erosexual peers (Kosciw et al.., 2014). Many experience a negative school environment and few see themselves represented in the curricu- lum. According to the literature, few English/Language Arts teach- ers are utilizing LGBTQ-focused texts in their courses (Blackburn & Buckley, 2005; Page, 2014). This case study demonstrates how one English/Language Arts teacher provided challenging, safe, inclusive educational experiences for students.
    [Show full text]
  • Queer Masculinities EXPLORATIONS of EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE
    Queer Masculinities EXPLORATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE Volume 21 Founding Editor Joe Kincheloe (1950–2008) Series Editors Shirley R. Steinberg, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Kenneth Tobin, City University of New York, USA Editorial Board Barrie Barrell, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada Rochelle Brock, University of Indiana, Gary, USA Stephen Petrina, University of British Columbia, Canada Christine Quail, State University of New York, Oneonta, USA Nelson Rodriguez, The College of New Jersey, USA Leila Villaverde, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA John Willinsky, Stanford University, USA Series Scope In today’s dominant modes of pedagogy, questions about issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, colonialism, religion, and other social dynamics are rarely asked. Questions about the social spaces where pedagogy takes place – in schools, media, and corporate think tanks – are not raised. And they need to be. The Explorations of Educational Purpose book series can help establish a renewed interest in such questions and their centrality in the larger study of education and the preparation of teachers and other educational professionals. The editors of this series feel that education matters and that the world is in need of a rethinking of education and educational purpose. Coming from a critical pedagogical orientation, Explorations of Educational Purpose aims to have the study of education transcend the trivialization that often degrades it. Rather than be content with the frivolous, scholarly lax forms of teacher education and weak teaching prevailing in the world today, we should work towards education that truly takes the unattained potential of human beings as its starting point. The series will present studies of all dimensions of education and offer alter- natives.
    [Show full text]
  • Queer Methods and Methodologies Queer Theories Intersecting and Social Science Research
    Queer Methods and Queer Methods and Methodologies Methodologies provides the first systematic consideration of the implications of a queer perspective in the pursuit of social scientific research. This volume grapples with key contemporary questions regarding the methodological implications for social science research undertaken from diverse queer perspectives, and explores the limitations and potentials of queer engagements with social science research techniques and methodologies. With contributors based in the UK, USA, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia, this truly Queer Methods international volume will appeal to anyone pursuing research at the and Methodologies intersections between social scientific research and queer perspectives, as well as those engaging with methodological Intersecting considerations in social science research more broadly. Queer Theories This superb collection shows the value of thinking concretely about and Social Science queer methods. It demonstrates how queer studies can contribute to Research debates about research conventions as well as offer unconventional research. The book is characterised by a real commitment to queer as Edited by an intersectional study, showing how sex, gender and sexuality Kath Browne, intersect with class, race, ethnicity, national identity and age. Readers will get a real sense of what you can write in by not writing University of Brighton, UK out the messiness, difficulty and even strangeness of doing research. Catherine J. Nash, Sara Ahmed, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK Brock University, Canada Very little systematic thought has been devoted to exploring how queer ontologies and epistemologies translate into queer methods and methodologies that can be used to produce queer empirical research. This important volume fills that lacuna by providing a wide-ranging, comprehensive overview of contemporary debates and applications of queer methods and methodologies and will be essential reading for J.
    [Show full text]
  • IS THERE a QUEER PEDAGOGY? OR, STOP READING STRAIGHT Deborah P
    Este documento es proporcionado al estudiante con fines educativos, para la crítica y la investigación respetando la reglamentación en materia de derechos de autor. Este documento no tiene costo alguno, por lo que queda prohibida su reproducción total o parcial. El uso indebido de este documento es responsabilidad del estudiante. Este documento es proporcionado al estudiante con fines educativos, para la crítica y la investigación respetando la reglamentación en materia de derechos de autor. Este documento no tiene costo alguno, por lo que queda prohibida su reproducción total o parcial. El uso indebido de este documento es responsabilidad del estudiante 151 IS THERE A QUEER PEDAGOGY? OR, STOP READING STRAIGHT Deborah P. Britzman Faculty of Education York University The rather mundane question, “What are you working on?”is one academics ask each other, involvingroutinely the discussion of a problem, a course of study, and the sketching out of some theory. It is when I name the theory that some of these conversations get awkward. When I pronounce “Queer Theory” more than a few times, it is as if the listener cannot believe her or his ears, it is as if I had spoken in another language. One difficulty that borders these conversations is that for many of my colleagues, questions of gay and lesbian thought are, well, not given any thought. But this, after all is part of my problematic, that is, accounting for the relations between a thought and what it cannot think. Why is it unthinkable to work with gay and lesbian writing when one thinks
    [Show full text]
  • Poststructural Feminism in Education: an Overview
    QUALITATIVE STUDIES IN EDUCATION, 2000, VOL. 13, NO. 5, 477–515 Poststructural feminism in education: An overview ELIZABETH ADAMS ST. PIERRE University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7123, USA Feminists in education increasingly use poststructuralismto trouble both discursive and material structuresthat limit the ways we think about our work. This overview of poststructural feminism presents several key philosophical concepts – language; discourse; rationality; power, resistance, and freedom; knowledge and truth; and the subject – as they are typically understood in humanism and then as they have been reinscribed in poststructuralism,paying special attention to how they have been used in education. Introduction Education has long been a fruitful site for feminist work, and both education and feminism have recently taken up theories, methods, and practices that have been categorized under the ‘‘post ’’ labels: poststructuralism, postmodernism, post- colonialism, postfoundational, postrevolutionary, postemancipatory, etc. The uneasy tension that was evident in the initial juxtaposition of feminism and poststructuralism " has abated somewhat since the referents of these terms have proliferated to such an extent during the last 30 years that a certain exhaustion with trying to x their meanings has set in. In addition, it is evident from the recent increase in feminist work informed by poststructuralism that the relationship of the two bodies of thought and practice is not inimical but invigorating and fruitful. This essay focuses on some key philosophical concepts – language ; discourse ; rationality ; power, resistance, and freedom ; knowledge and truth ; and the subject – and examines the ways they are typically understood in humanism and then presents their reinscriptions in postructuralism. Finally, it illustrates how feminists have employed these reinscriptions in their political work for social justice.
    [Show full text]