Queer Compositions in a U.S. Secondary Classroom: Genre, Citationality, and Linguistic Racism

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been an increase in literacy education research attending to curriculum inclusive of sexual and gender diversity in secondary classrooms. Although valuable, most of this research has focused on the ideational and representational qualities of curriculum and thus has overlooked the significance of composition and genre. Seeking to add this scholarship, I focused on youth choosing to write about queer topics for compositional assignments in a secondary humanities course that combined English language arts and social studies (U.S. studies). Drawing from a broader literacy ethnography conducted at a high school in a Midwestern U.S. city, I argue that youth in the humanities course drew on curricular ideas and genres in their literacy performances in ways that resisted and reified oppressive values. Genres that encouraged extended dialogue resulted in interrogations of cisheteronormativity that were sustained and intersectional. However, youth's use of genres cited and reproduced racist and cisheteronormative Eurocentric, anti-Black, and assimilationist ideologies. Hence, there is a need for approaches to queer-inclusive curricula that explore intersections of queerness and race and attend to aspects of literacy and language practices beyond ideational and representational content.

Fostering Youth’s Queer Activism in Secondary Classrooms: Youth Choice and Queer‐Inclusive Curriculum

“…First, although youth in the politics seminar interrogated religiously based antiqueer values as highlighted in the article about Indiana, the youth did not discuss the intersections of queerness and race, confirming an avoidance of race that is all too common in classrooms (Leonardo, 2009). This instance was part of a broader pattern with respect to the intersections of race and queerness at Harrison (Schey, 2019), such as youth of Color, especially Black youth, being required to assimilate to white norms, such as politeness norms, when engaging in disagreements about gender and sexuality (Schey, 2020) and encountering linguistic racism in writing assignments (Schey, 2021). Thus, it is vital to attend to race and racism in conversations about queer-inclusive curriculum rather than treating queerness and race as separate, parallel, or discrete identities.…”

“…Youth chose to enroll in the humanities class (or their parents chose for them), and many students told me they did so because of their college degree aspirations or their fondness for the subject matter and teachers. The enrolled students were racially and ethnically diverse, although a greater percentage of them were white as compared with Harrison's overall enrollment (for more information on Harrison, see Schey, 2019Schey, , 2020Schey, , 2021. Several queer youth were out in the class, and a number attended the GSA.…”

“…During the 2016-2017 school year, I completed a yearlong literacy ethnography (Heath & Street, 2008) at Harrison High School (for additional information on the ethnography, see Schey, 2019Schey, , 2020Schey, , 2021. I approached this project by drawing on my previous experiences in working as a high school English teacher and GSA coadvisor to support queer youth, families, and educators.…”

Queer and trans youth (not) knowing: experiences of epistemic (in)justice in the context of an LGBTQ+-inclusive secondary curriculum

“…Youth, or their parents, chose to enroll in the humanities class, and many students told me they did so because of their college-degree aspirations or their fondness for the subject matter and teachers. The enrolled students were racially and ethnically diverse, although a greater percentage of students were white compared to Harrison's overall enrollment (for more information on Harrison, see Schey, 2019Schey, , 2022. Several queer youths were out in the class and a number attended the GSA.…”

“…During the 2016-2017 school year, I completed a yearlong literacy ethnography (Heath and Street, 2008) at Harrison High School (for additional information on the ethnography, see Schey, 2019Schey, , 2020Schey, , 2021Schey, , 2022. I approached this project drawing on my experiences previously working as a high school English teacher and GSA co-advisor to support queer and trans youth, families and educators.…”