Queering Cultural Capital: Applications for the K-12 Classroom

• In Event: Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Let Us In: LGBTQ Issues in the Curriculum

Abstract

In this paper, I will expand on Yosso’s (2005) concepts of social capital from her article Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth to discuss the cultural capital within queer communities. Yosso identified five forms of cultural capital specific to communities of color: aspirational, linguistic, familial, navigational, and resistant. I argue that all of these are present in queer communities, and propose an additional form of capital, transgressive. The theoretical framework stems from Yosso’s sociological and Critical Race Theory (CRT) lens to include queer theory, queer pedagogy, queer linguistics, and queer Chicana feminism. When the diversities within queer communities are thought of as cultural capital, teachers can use these strengths to help LGBTQ students.

Author

• Summer Pennell, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill