From Resilience to Resistance: Oppression and Agency in the Lives of Queer Youth of Color

• In Event: It's Giving Camp, It's Giving Community: Collaborative Approaches to Queer Resistance

Abstract

Schools can be violent spaces for queer youth; as such, research has often situated queer youth as either victims or resilient. Critical scholars, however, have argued that celebrating resiliency in the lives of queer youth is problematic given that resilience often implies adjusting to fit into the dominant norms of society and therefore does not confront the prevalence of heteronormativity, or consider the ways youth challenge oppression. Joining the call for more research committed to exploring youth agency and activism, I seek to shed light on the agentive experiences of Queer Youth of Color (QYOC); more specifically, I hope to illuminate and reimagine resistance in the lives of QYOC attending schools that attempt to marginalize their queer and racial identities.

Author

• Sonny Partola, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point