Heteronormativity as Hegemony: An Applied Workshop on Using Queer Family Theory in the Undergraduate Classroom

• In Event: 2422 - Workshop on Handling Controversial Topics in a Controversial Era

Abstract

Students often struggle with and/or object to the teaching of theory in the classroom, and many students believe that theory is too abstract or removed from everyday life to be useful to them in the future. However, theories are an important and useful tool for structuring knowledge in collegiate courses, and for understanding sociological events and experiences outside of the classroom. To address this challenge, we will introduce a recent sociological model and offer ways for instructors to teach it effectively.
The model, published in March in Journal of Family Theory and Review, is a response to the authors’ critique of extant queer family theories as no longer applicable in light of social and legal progress afforded to certain queer people and families in the past decade. Their proposed theoretical model identifies heteronormativity as a hegemony, which shifts and changes over time and by context. The authors assert that heteronormativity now includes cis-, mono-, and homonormativity, and must always be examined within both socio-cultural-political and temporal contexts.The model is relevant to a wide variety of social science courses because it: (1) considers gender, sexuality, family, race, ethnicity, class, ability, nationality, and time as integral to understanding contemporary hegemonic heteronormativity; (2) allows for the theorizing of privilege as well as oppression; and (3) accounts for individual, familial, relational, institutional, and historical change. Our goal in this 45 minute workshop is to provide attendees with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to utilize the hegemonic heteronormativity model in the undergraduate classroom and to teach it effectively. We will begin by reviewing the model with attendees; we will then demonstrate a classroom activity for instructors to use in their own undergraduate sociology courses. After the teaching demonstration, we will answer questions and provide handouts with relevant resources and information for attendees.

Authors

• Shawn Mendez

• Samuel H. Allen, University of Maryland