The Pedagogical Significance of Drag Kings' Narratives
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Educational Policy Studies Dissertations Department of Educational Policy Studies 10-20-2009 Multiple Selves, Fragmented (Un)learnings: The Pedagogical Significance of Drag Kings' Narratives Leslee Grey Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_diss Part of the Education Commons, and the Education Policy Commons Recommended Citation Grey, Leslee, "Multiple Selves, Fragmented (Un)learnings: The Pedagogical Significance of Drag Kings' Narratives." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2009. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_diss/59 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Educational Policy Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Policy Studies Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, MULTIPLE SELVES, FRACTURED (UN)LEARNINGS: THE PEDAGOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DRAG KINGS’ NARRATIVES, by LESLEE GREY, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education, Georgia State University. The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student’s Department Chair, as representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. The Dean of the College of Education concurs. ________________________ ___________________________ Susan Talburt, Ph.D. Deron Boyles, Ph.D. Committee Chair Committee Member ________________________ ___________________________ Jodi Kaufman, Ph.D. Megan Sinnott, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member ________________________ Date ________________________ Sheryl A. Gowen, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Educational Policy Studies ________________________ R.W. Kamphaus, Ph.D. Dean and Distinguished Research Professor College of Education AUTHOR’S STATEMENT By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advance degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the College of Education’s director of graduate studies and research, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission. ______________________________________ Leslee Grey NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Leslee Grey 808 Greenwood Avenue, NE Atlanta, GA 30306 The director of this dissertation is: Dr. Susan Talburt Women’s Studies Institute College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 VITA Leslee Grey ADDRESS: 808 Greenwood Ave, NE #203 Atlanta, GA 30306 EDUCATION: Ph.D. 2009 Georgia State University Educational Policy Studies M.S. 2003 Georgia State University Social Foundations of Education B.A. 1992 University of Alabama at Birmingham English and Philosophy PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 2005 – 2007 Teaching and Research Assistant Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 2003 – 2008 Manager of Executive Programs Emory University, Atlanta, GA 1998 – 2003 Project Manager Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS: 1999 – present Southeast Philosophy of Education Society 2006 – present American Educational Studies Association 2000 – present Curriculum and Pedagogy Group PUBLICATIONS: Grey, Leslee, “Governing Identity Through Neoliberal Education Initiatives,” in The Gates Foundation and the Future of U.S. "Public" Schools. Edited by Philip Kovacs. New York, NY: Palgrave, 2009. (Forthcoming) Trammell, Leslee, “Measuring and Fixing, Filling and Drilling: The ExxonMobil Agenda for Education,” in Schools Or Markets? Commercialism, Privatization, and School- Business Partnerships. Edited by Deron R. Boyles. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005. CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS: Grey, Leslee, “The Cultural and Pedagogical Work of Drag Kings: Gender Transgression and Knowledge Production,” October 2008 meeting of the American Educational Studies Association, Savannah, Georgia. Grey, Leslee, “Sex Education Curricula and the Governance of Youths’ Sexualities,” February 2007 meeting of Southeast Philosophy of Education Society, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Grey, Leslee, Invited Discussant: QUIG Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Conference, Panel: “GLBTQ: Issues in Researching Sexual and Gender Minorities,” January 2007, Athens, Georgia. Grey, Leslee, “Pedagogy and Public Space,” presented at the October 2006 meeting of the Curriculum and Pedagogy Group, Marble Falls, Texas. Grey, Leslee, “Size Matters: Questioning the Small Schools Movement,” presented at the February 2006 meeting of the Southeast Philosophy of Education Society Atlanta, Georgia. Trammell, Leslee, “Emancipation via Corporatization: The Public Discourse of NCLB,” presented at the February 2005 meeting of the Southeast Philosophy of Education Society, Orlando, Florida. Trammell, Leslee, “The Educational Philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti,” presented at the February 2005 meeting of the Southeast Association of Educational Studies, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Trammell, Leslee, “Why Can’t Schools Be Like This? Experiences in a Youth Development Organization,” presented at the February 2004 meeting of the Southeast Philosophy of Education Society, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Trammell, Leslee, “Raising Youth Voice,” presented at the October 2003 meeting of the Curriculum and Pedagogy Group, Decatur, Georgia. Trammell, Leslee, “Measuring and Fixing, Filling and Drilling: The ExxonMobil Agenda for Education,” presented at the February 2003 meeting of the Southeast Philosophy of Education Society, St. Petersburg, Florida. ABSTRACT MULTIPLE SELVES, FRACTURED (UN)LEARNINGS: THE PEDAGOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DRAG KINGS’ NARRATIVES by Leslee Grey This dissertation features the stories of drag king performers. Through life story interviews coupled with participant observations, and informed by gender performance, poststructuralist, and psychoanalytic theories, this project examines the ways in which drag performers construct, take up and perform multiple subjectivities and how they benefit from multiple knowledges in their learnings and unlearnings. Through an examination of the creation and circulation of these drag king pedagogies, I suggest ways in which drag performers create and sustain gendered knowledge, while navigating difference and working with multiple discourses of identity, oppression, and power in a socially and economically diverse city. Participants’ perceptions of their gender identities point to the ways in which identity categories are insufficient. Each participant uses an existing identity label (e.g., transgender, tranny, boi) or a combination of existing labels, to understand their gender identities, even as their narratives point to the failures of fixed categories. It is my contention that the narratives of these particular performers highlight the multiplicity of all selves, and the ways in which all learnings and unlearnings are fragmented. Thus, drag king narratives have significant pedagogical value in examining the relationships between subjectivities and knowledge. MULTIPLE SELVES, FRACTURED (UN)LEARNINGS: THE PEDAGOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DRAG KINGS’ NARRATIVES by Leslee Grey A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Policy Studies In the Department of Educational Policy Studies in the College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 2009 Copyright by Leslee J. Grey 2009 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS So many friends, colleagues, and professors have helped in the completion of this dissertation. Finding the words to express my gratitude to my adviser, Susan Talburt, is nearly impossible. Her guidance throughout my graduate school career has greatly contributed to my intellectual and personal development. This work would not exist without her. To my committee member and teaching mentor, Deron Boyles, I am grateful for years of advice, support, and interest in my academic development. I am indebted to committee members Jodi Kaufman, for her encouragement and for challenging the boundaries of educational research, and Megan Sinnott, for her creativity, keen intellect, and enthusiasm. Thanks to my parents, Maggy, John, and Joe, for their love, encouragement, and support. I thank my dear friends: Carolyn Vander Schee, for her ongoing support both professionally and personally; Holly Lang, for tirelessly cheering me on every day; and Holly Byrd, for urging me to “just get ‘er done.” I will be forever indebted to Meredith Griffith for the laughter and joy she brings to my life, for believing in me, challenging