If you don't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?” Drag pedagogy in PK-12 social-emotional learning

• In Event: Sashay, You Stay: Uplifting Drag Pedagogies in the Era of Drag Bans

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the discourses of multiple Drag Queens who have current/past experience teaching in US PK-12 education. This study’s purpose was to provide insight into how a “Drag Pedagogy” is embodied in how teachers develop students’ social-emotional learning (SEL) through a Drag-infused, Queer pedagogical lens. Queer theory and thematic narrative analysis were conducted of the participants’ interview data. The Drag Queens expressed influences from Drag that embodied the following SEL-based themes: (1) learning to express and understand emotions; (2) supporting your community; (3) demonstrating and spreading love and compassion; and (4) modeling and encouraging a positive self-image. Overall, this study’s findings demonstrate that Drag Pedagogy can provide a radical, political, and queer approach to classroom teaching.

Author

• Heather Macías, California State University - Long Beach