Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines how heteronormativity in higher education can be interrupted and resisted. Located within the theoretical framework of queer and critical pedagogy and based on extensive empirical research, the author explores the dynamics of heteronormativity and its interruption on professional courses in a range of higher education institutions. Reactions to attempt to interrupt it were nuanced: while strategies of contested engagement, avoidance and retreat were expressed, heterosexualities were largely un-examined and un-articulated. ‘Coming out’ needs to be a pedagogical act, carried out concurrently with the interruptions of other social constructions and binary oppositions. The author calls for co-created and co-held meta-reflexive and liminal spaces that emphasise inter-subjectivity, encounters, and working in the moment. These spaces must de-construct and reconstruct pedagogical power and knowledge to promote collective intersubjective consciousnesses, and widen the vision of the reflective practitioner to that of the pedagogical practitioner. This pioneering book is a call to action to all those concerned with interrupting and problematising presumed binary categories of sexuality within the heterosexual matrix.
Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction: Heteronormativity and its interruptions in universities: 'to teach is to be watched'SECTION I: Framework and contextChapter 2. Heteronormativity in Higher Education: Terminology, Context and Empirical WorkChapter 3. Pedagogic framework for interrupting heteronormativityChapter 4. Theoretical framework and key conceptsSECTION II. Dynamics of heteronormativity within educational settingsChapter 5. A Case Study of Institutional Heteronormativity in Higher Education InstitutionsChapter 6. Dynamics of inter-subjective heteronormativity amongst students in higher educationChapter 7. The absent majority? Constructions of heterosexuality within educational settingsChapter 8. The present minority: Homonormativity within educational settingsSECTION III. Interrupting heteronormativity and constructing transgressive and transformative sexualitiesChapter 9. Coming out: the personal, the political and the pedagogicChapter 10. The coming out imperative: self-revelation as pedagogyChapter 11. Transgressive sexualities and public pedagogiesChapter 12. A whole course intersectional team approach to interrupting heteronormativityChapter 13. Educating the Pedagogical Practitioner: The Liminal Spaces of a Queer and Critical PedagogyChapter 14. Conclusion: Interrupting Heteronormativity in Higher Education—Next Steps