Positioning and Queer Literature: What's Possible in One Middle School Classroom?

• In Event: 14.043 - Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: 14.043-21 - Heteronormativity and Its Discontents: Teachers, Students, and Schools

Abstract

This case study examines how the heteronormative nature of one middle school classroom shapes the support and learning for LGBTQ students when engaged in studying a novel with a gay character. Heteronormative environments inform positioning of and by students and teacher, impacting how knowledge is created, processed, and applied. When queer literature is integrated into the classroom curriculum it creates windows and mirrors for exploration of the world and self. Heteronormativity, positioning, and queer literature are interactive catalysts that create and foreclose possibilities and impossibilities for flourishing. Findings reflect a heteronormative understanding of classroom-based gender performance and sexual identity that limited possibilities for LGBTQ students and how two students identifying as lesbians contradicted these norms.

Authors

• Elizabeth G. Dinkins, Bellarmine University

• Patrick Englert, Bellarmine University