Gay Black Boys’ Narratives as a Disruptive Tool for Oppressive Dynamics

• In Event: Justice-Focused Praxis in Qualitative Research With LGBTQ+ Youth

Abstract

Purposes:

In Alabama, there is a conservative, religious, and now poverty-stricken space that has been home to most Black Alabamians since the early 18th century: The Black Belt. Yet, deeply embedded within the region's seventeen counties and unique historical, socio-cultural, and political fabric lies an unexamined community that has been essential in establishing and maintaining Alabama’s educational, social, and economic existence—Black gay/queer men. These men have experiences in their youth that are essential to contesting the historically consistent beliefs that have led to the development of anti-gay legislation. In response to Mosley et. al (2021)’s call for diverse methodological approaches to qualitatively capture the experiences of the Black gay/queer community, this study argues for and employs narrative methodologies to explore the experiences of Black gay/queer men in their youth in the rural, conservative Alabama Black Belt region.

Perspectives:

Narrative inquiry is a relational methodology, which honors lived experiences as a source of important knowledge and understanding. It is a way to provide distinction to “story” and characterize phenomena on human experience that situates humans as “storytelling organisms, who individually and socially, lead storied lives” (Clandinin, 2013, p. 2). Amid growing anti-gay legislation and sentiment, it is critical to devote attention to narrative inquiry as an appropriate methodological approach to conducting research on Black LGBTQ+ youth. Stories, specifically those surrounding marginalized groups, allow for phronesis development to provide knowledge about the world that cannot be procured through other means, thereby; narrative inquiry becomes a passageway that grants access to “social, cultural, familial, linguistic, and institutional narratives that shape and are shaped by the individual" (Stahl & King, 2020, p. 33). The passageway gives us insight that could shift the existing, overlapping paradigms in human society.

Methods, Data, and Points of View:

The data examined in this presentation were collected in 2023, and include narrative interviews, written portraits, field notes, and journal entries. Thinking narratively, I approached the analysis in phases, grounded in Connelly and Clandinin's (1990) three analytical tools: broadening, burrowing, and storying and re-storying. I identify the phases as: "Humanizing the Individual," "Restorying the Narrative," and "Thematically Speaking." Using lenses of queer of color critique and intersectionality, in the presentation, I will share the narratives of Black gay/ queer men and emphasize how these stories can disrupt anti-gay legislation and sentiment, inform teacher education and curriculum development, cultivate affirming educational environments.

Scholarly Significance:

Black gay/queer men make meaning and story their lived experiences related to their racial, gendered, and sexual identities in a complex manner. Consequently, their stories are necessary because they provide insight into social, educational, cultural, racial, and political cultures that cannot be procured without their stories. These narratives hold the power to “disrupt the subjugation of oppressed people'' and “unveil the social and historical forces'' that have produced marginality for queer people of color (Brockenbrough, 2015, p. 30).

Author

• Shelton K. Johnson, SUNY New Paltz