Using Queer of Color Analysis in Educational Research to Interrupt and Transform

• In Event: Future Directions in Queer of Color Scholarship Across Educational Settings

Abstract

The two framing questions for this paper are as follows: (1) How can queer of color epistemologies interrupt hegemonic processes of knowledge production? and (2) How can these interruptions inform transformative pedagogical work that benefits queers of color specifically and queer, feminist, anti-racist educational scholarship more broadly? The purpose of this paper is to discuss education research that depicts the narratives of queer students of color (QSOC) experiences in K-12 schools. Specifically, QSOC narratives that describe the particular forms of marginalization they experience and barriers to participation in school programs and access to postsecondary education. The author uses a queer of color analysis (QOCA) framework to interpret the narrative data. As a form of critique designed to unsettle the dominant discourses, key questions and normative beliefs of educational studies, QOCA interrupts hegemonic processes of knowledge production and informs transformative pedagogies, especially those that benefit QSOC specifically, as well as queer, feminist, anti-racist educational scholarship more broadly. The author’s argument is based on their insights gleaned from editing two special issues of peer-review academic journals in education that feature QOCA scholarship, as well as two recently published chapters on the educational trajectories and transitions to adulthood of Black queer youth.

Author

• Lance Trevor McCready, University of Toronto