Liberation Is a Queer Thing: Situating Student Teaching Experiences of Normalization and Resistance

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Queering the Classroom: Queer K–12 Curriculum and Pedagogy (Table 13)

Abstract

Using our own student teaching experiences as pre-service teachers (PSTs) trained in programs espousing inclusive, anti-racist pedagogies, we explore how educators committed to principles such as social justice, inclusion, anti-racism, and abolition are made politically queer in the context of the normalizing, settler-colonial and white supremacist system of education. Through the application of a queer theoretical frame to our experience, we identify moments where we were subjected to normalization practices, or what Ahmed (2006) calls “straightening devices.” We use qualitative analysis of interview data, autoethnographic vignettes, and course journals to explore how we navigated these conflicts, and what a queer theoretical frame can illuminate about the experiences of PSTs and the challenges facing inclusive, anti-racist teacher education.

Authors

• Teukie Martin, Syracuse University

• Nikkia D. Borowski, Syracuse University