Navigating Heteronormative Structures: How Four Transdisciplinary Faculty Used a Self-Study Community of Practice to Reflect on Enacting a Social Justice Stance

• In Event: 35.071 - Perspectives on Social Justice in Self-Study

Abstract

Four transdisciplinary faculty engaged in a yearlong self-study, working together as critical friends, to explore the tension between teaching for social justice and the heteronormative structures of licensure for their respective professions. This research is framed by sociocultural theory and draws on tenets of feminist co-mentoring; the researchers explored self in relation to the demands of institutional policies and practices while also teaching and modeling a social justice stance. Data were gathered through personal logs--rich narrative descriptions of turning points or instances wherein social justice as a stance was disrupted, ignored, or even challenged. Findings include insights on how faculty need to make their own internal challenges visible for students in an effort to model navigating patriarchy and heteronormative structures.

Authors

• Brie Morettini, Rowan University

• Cori Meredith Brown, Rowan University

• Jill A. Perry, Rowan University

• Kara Ieva, Rowan University