Open issue

Abstract

n this volume, which is an open issue, we present five papers that in various ways relate to issues on education, philosophy and politics, all imbued with social criticism and contributing to Confero's interdisciplinary focus and encouragement to essayistic writing. Two of the papers directly deal with heteronormativity and heterosexism in school contexts, where one empirically scrutinizes the normative production of pupil sexuality, and the other discusses the possibilities for straight teacher allies involved in LGBTQ activism in an essay of self-disclosure. Both acknowledge the importance of shaping school environments into safe spaces. A third essay, also with a focus on the school context and it's (un)safe spaces, unfolds research on bullying, highlighting the importance of taking socio-cultural power structures and norms into account in this field of research, also acknowledging the damaging forces of homophobia. In the writing of this essay, the argument is presented quite playfully, hence making the argument more accessible. This is also the case of the fourth paper, where a well-known children's book character is taken up and discussed in relation to Nietzsche's writings, presenting his ideas in an exciting way. Appropriately, this issue ends with an essay that explores the emotion of love in the search for knowledge in our universities. We are hopeful that these essays will inspire you as readers in writing more freely and more creatively than what is usually accepted in the larger realm I