Redefining the Public Mind: Queerness, Discourse, and the Harnessing of Backlash

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Seven
  In Roundtable Session: Comparative Perspectives of the Attitudes and Discourse Affecting Marginalized Students in Schools (Table 8)

Abstract

Given the rise of these anti-woke education bills like Florida's Don't Say Gay bill, we analyze discursively how politicians harness the politics of backlash to fuel regressive social movements. The objective of this paper is to map out how the process of backlash production (Alter & Zürn, 2020) and discourse capture (Lewin, 2021) lead to the propagation of anti-queer education legislation in the case of Florida’s controversial bill. We illustrate the existence of this pattern in hopes of producing possibilities for recognizing and disrupting racist and anti-queer oppression inside and outside of schools.

Authors

• Caitlin O'Loughlin, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Taylor William Schmidt, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Jocelyn A. Glazier, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author