Station 3

• In Event: The Art of Queer and Trans Educational Research Methodology: A Workshop on Community-Engaged Scholarship

Abstract

Introduction
The workshop’s third station presents data from a 2-year multi-site ethnographic project in Northern California examining gender self-determination in primary (K-2) education. The primary investigator for this IRB-approved study will share data from one site: a queer-run arts-based afterschool program serving 50% of the student body at one urban public elementary school. The program is led by a multi-racial team of queer and trans staff, many of whom also work in local queer nightlife, and are therefore immersed in queer/trans cultural production for adults as well as children. The presenting scholar will argue that the structures of this program open unique opportunities for childhood gender self-determination, and will invite participants to explore implications for education research methodology.
Theoretical Framework: The Struggle for Gender Self-Determination at School
Gender self-determination has been the unifying demand of transgender social movements since they began to coalesce more than 50 years ago. When Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and other trans activists of color now credited as the founders of the contemporary trans movement wrote the STAR Manifesto in1970, their first demand clearly stated: “We want the right to self-determination over the use of our bodies” (Cohen, 2007). They believed that access to public resources should not depend on one’s legibility within government systems of identity classification (Gill-Peterson, 2018).
More recently, school district policies have emerged under the banner of supporting trans people in public schools. Many policies focus primarily on making transness legible – and therefore manageable – within administrative systems. They offer limited pathways for students to transition within a binary structure, allowing the system to describe itself as trans inclusive while retaining the power to regulate gender. In addition to restricting possibilities for gender fluidity, gender transition policies involve bureaucratic processes that are difficult to navigate without adult advocacy. These structures are often prohibitive for all but those children whose gender is translatable to existing school information systems, and whose parents are supportive and well-positioned to navigate institutional processes (Author, 2018).

Workshop Station Structure

The afterschool program featured in the study presents an innovative approach to trans-competent models of education, one that foregrounds the construction of childhood agency, creative self-expression, and relationships with queer/trans adults. At the workshop, the scholar-facilitator will present anonymized data drawn from field notes and photographs, inviting participants to compare the data with what they know about traditional elementary school environments. Then, we will shift into an arts-based exploration of the implications for education research methodology. Participants will be invited to make use of visual and/or performing arts materials and props to express their observations in response to the following questions:
1) How is queer and trans knowledge produced and shared in this learning environment?
2) How might this pedagogical design extend our thinking about education?
3) What implications does this data hold for bridging queer/trans theory with education research methodology?

References
Author (2018).

Cohen, S. (2007). The gay liberation youth movement in New York. Routledge.

Gill-Peterson, J. (2018). Histories of the transgender child. University of Minnesota Press.

Author

• Harper B. Keenan, University of British Columbia
  Presenting Author