Showing, Telling, and Curating Queerlore Narratives

• In Event: 44.069 - New Approaches to Queer Methodologies in Education: Engaging the Queer Research Process

Abstract

Within recent years, new research foci have sought to explore the lived experiences of queer youth in schools. These experiences are often typified by experiences with homophobia, heterosexist isolation, harassment, and even physical violence (Diaz & Kosciw, 2009; Driver, 2008; Grossman, et al., 2009; Grov et al., 2006; Hackford-Peer, 2010; Holmes & Cahill, 2003; Kivel, 1994; Russell & Truong, 2001; Talburt, 2004). While it is important that those issues are addressed, these kinds of representations describe only some of queer youth experiences. For one, the narrow representations of the lived experiences of queer youth have tended to marginalize the experiences of queer youth of color. In alignment with queer of color critique’s intention to position queer of color identities at the center of research investigation (Ferguson, 2004), the author is concerned with queer youth of color stories and wisdom, and the methods researchers draw upon to illuminate those insights.

Scholars from across disciplines have utilized qualitative research methods to explore the lives of queer people because they work particularly well with interpreting the meaning of lived experiences and the discourse, narrative and artifacts that contextualize lived experiences and phenomenon (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Marshall & Rossman, 2011). Qualitative researchers attempt to piece together a variety of interactions, identities, discourses, and actions in order to create quilt-like “representations connecting parts to a whole” (p. 6) through the use of in-depth
interviews and analysis (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Marshall & Rossman, 2011).

Narrative inquiry is a qualitative methodology that is concerned with how humans organize lived experiences to construct a perception of reality. It can be particularly useful in illuminating stories from historically marginalized people. It is also useful for capturing the stories people tell across multimedia formats. Queer youth of color have stories to share, but those stories are not confined to one form of storytelling. Thus, in their pursuit of exploration and understanding, narrative researchers are encouraged to draw upon innovative research methods that allow them to capture new dimensions of a story. Drawn from a narrative research dissertation study exploring how queer youth of color negotiate their intersectional identities and navigate formal school settings, this paper focuses on the narrative inquiry research methods the author employed to understand, examine, organize and present queerlore narratives generated from data. The author defines a queerlore narrative as a mosaic constructed from interview narrative, visual narrative, and artifacts that reflect insight on queer of color culture and practices, as Manalansan IV (2006) puts it, “produced through the intersectionality of identities, practices and institutions” (p. 225). The author will explore the use of interview narrative, life map narrative, and artifacts pieced together to curate a queerlore narrative.

Author

• Tomas Boatwright, University of San Francisco