BlackQueer Youth Agency as Pedagogy

• In Event: 34.056 - Moving From Out to In: Examining the Experiences of LGBTQ+ Students, Teachers, and Allies

Abstract

Though a growing number of researchers have begun amassing a corpus of scholarship around the intersectional educational experiences of BlackQueer youth in contemporary U.S. contexts, wanting still are studies that explore the agency of these youth and their mechanisms for survival as they navigate the sticky educational terrain littered with racist and heterosexist landmines. In this piece, we reflect on our narratives of agency as three cisgender BlackGay men and build on and overlap theories of Queer of color agency, Black Ratchet Imagination, and Intersectionality to work toward an exploratory framework for BlackQueer youth agency as pedagogy for teachers and community workers who are committed to social, racial, and sexual justice education.

Authors

• Shamari K. Reid, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Jesse Reid

• Jaron Reid