Queer Joy as an Affective Incitement to Queer and Trans Studies in Education

• In Event: Bridging the Rainbow Gap: Exploring Tensions and Possibilities in Queer Studies in K–12 and Higher Education

Abstract

In this paper, the authors will argue for “queer joy” as an affective incitement to extend and reconceptualize queer and trans studies across educational scholarship. Too often, research on queer and trans communities in PK-12 and higher education settings focuses on the discrimination, harassment, and violence that these groups face. Although this body of literature is important and needed to further advocate for more equitable practices and policies, the authors contend that queer and trans studies scholars must also document and examine how queer and trans communities create, experience, and proliferate queer joy in schools and other educational institutions. In this paper, the authors will draw analytical insights from feminist and queer of color critiques, and will include excerpts from their discussions where they spoke about what PK-12 and higher education researchers can learn from one another about the conceptual and empirical possibilities of studying queer joy in education.

Authors

• Antonio Duran, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Roland Sintos Coloma, Wayne State University
  Presenting Author