ERIC Number: EJ891177
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Aug
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1857
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Queer Politics in Schools: A Rancierean Reading
Ruitenberg, Claudia W.
Educational Philosophy and Theory, v42 n5-6 p618-634 Aug 2010
The perceptibility and intelligibility of queer students and teachers have been a central theme in queer politics in education. Can queer teachers be "out" to their colleagues and students? Can queer relationships be seen at the school prom? Can queerness be seen and heard? At the same time, perceptibility and intelligibility are by no means uncontested political goals. This paper analyzes different school initiatives by and/or for queer students and asks how political these initiatives are from the perspective of Jacques Ranciere's conception of politics. In particular, it employs Ranciere's work on the "distribution of the sensible" ("partage du sensible") to analyze conditions of visibility and sayability and the political risks and benefits that gaining visibility and sayability carries for queer students and teachers. The paper brings Ranciere's distinction between identification and subjectification into conversation with Judith Butler's work on the governing of intelligibility by social norms, and the promise of "insurrectionary speech". Finally, Ranciere's work on the role of allies in political interventions that shift the distribution of the sensible provides a fresh reading of Gay-Straight Alliances in schools and the work of queer allies more generally.
Descriptors: Homosexuality, Politics of Education, Public Education, Social Attitudes, Teaching Conditions, Educational Environment, Social Bias, Student Organizations, Risk, Self Disclosure (Individuals)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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