"Am I Gonna Have to Slap the Shit Outta Somebody Today?" Queer Youth of Color and Homophobic Violence in Urban Schools

• In Event: 35.082 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 35.082-14 - Queer of Color Critique as a Critical and Postfoundational Perspective in Educational Research

Abstract

Although widespread attention to bullying in American K-12 schools has increased public concern over the plight of queer students, it has also popularized binary distinctions between victims and victimizers that may not capture the complex power dynamics at play in bullying encounters (Payne & Smith, 2013). Drawing upon data from an ethnographic study of an urban HIV/AIDS prevention center that served queer youth of color, this paper analyzes 10 youth participants’ narratives of homophobic encounters in local urban schools. While 9 youth recounted the homophobic harassment that shaped their schooling experiences, 5 youth also described how they fought back—against peers as well as teachers—often by replicating the abusive language or physical violence initially used against them. Through a queer of color critique of educational discourses (Author 1, 2013), this paper moves beyond simplistic constructions of queer victimhood to explore what agency looks like for queer youth of color who must navigate urban school cultures marked by both interpersonal and institutional levels of violence. While study participants’ narratives underscore the urgency for continued efforts to curb homophobic bullying in schools, they also suggest that such efforts may falter if they do not subvert the larger culture of violence in some urban schools that awards students—including queers of color—who fight for social standing.

Author

• Edward Brockenbrough, University of Rochester