Queer Teachers, Identity and Performativity

What do we mean when we talk about 'queer teachers'? The authors here grapple with what it means to be sexually or gender diverse and to work as a school teacher within four national contexts: Australia, Ireland, the UK and the USA. This new volume offers academics, educators and students a provocative exploration of this pivotal topic.

"Queer Teachers, Identity and Performativity is ... a lively and accessible collection of accounts combining to provide critical commentary on the complexities of queer teachers' contemporary lives and experiences ... a valuable resource for anyone interested in the nexus of schooling and sexuality, and as such a very welcome addition to the gender and education literature." - Gender and Education

"This book goes beyond calling on queer teachers to come out of the closet and be role models. The chapter authors consider from different angles many of the ambiguities raised by such a premise: What exactly does it mean to be 'queer', or someone who lives outside the heteronormative? How do these lived experiences intersect with increasingly neoliberal 'cyborg' discourses of teaching as a profession, where teachers are expected to leave their humanity at the school gate? Might the closet be somewhat transparent, so that in and out are not so clearly defined? Does it really get better? And, if so, how might it get better sooner? Because there are teachers and children who are right now navigating the treacherous waters of heteronormativity. This book draws upon the voices of teachers to engage carefully and thoroughly with these issues." - Professor Renee DePalma, Universidade da Coruña, Spain

"Since my book was published in 1992, almost a quarter of a century ago, one would have thought that the plight of queer teachers may have improved over time. Not so.Although conditions of work have progressed to some extent, they have not done so universally. This collection is meant, in the words of the editors: "to trouble the ways in which power, language and the discursive (re)production of gender and sexual identities both play out within educational spaces and impact upon the lives of same sex attracted and gender diverse teachers." The anthology is an excellent re-view, giving the reader fresh perspectives of issues that still plague queer teachers. Anthologies are often uneven, but in this case, each article is a gem, each introduces the reader to different international contexts, and each deals with different and compelling aspects of being queer. When the editors state they want their book to have "at its heart a desire to do more than reiterate what the existing research tells" them, they, indeed, succeed. Their book is novel in its scope, the writing is crisp, the thinking intense and it is a book I definitely want on my shelf." - Professor Didi Khayatt, York University, Canada

"Spanning a diverse range of experiences and regions Queer Teachers, Identity and Performativity is an indispensible collection exploring how contemporary social and political shifts surrounding gender and sexuality are negotiated and felt by LGBTQ people working and learning in schools. An original and valuable contribution to existing research in a number of fields and associated social movements including transgender studies and educational studies, Queer Teachers, Identity and Performativity invites readers to continue to investigate, with pleasure, the troubles with normal and other pressing queer entanglements." - Professor Erica R. Meiners, Northeastern Illinois University, USA

"An impressive collection of contemporary applications of queer theory, and a vital text for anyone interested in anti-bullying efforts, inclusion, and improving the lives of queer teachers - and, likewise, the lives of queer students." - Associate Professor Tony Adams, Northeastern Illinois University, USA

"This book performs queer, in a way that captures its complexities and nuances in teachers' lived experiences. Reframing 'the wound' focus of much sexualities research, it illuminates how teachers challenge and subvert the heteronormative space of schooling, emphasising queer's productive possibilities. It is essential reading on 'doing queer' as teachers in schools, for the next generation of queer scholars and educators." - Associate Professor Louisa Allen, University of Auckland, New Zealand

"Queer Teachers, Identity and Performativity powerfully reminds us of the urgency to pursue critical research agendas that continue to interrogate the 'doing', 'being' and 'becoming' queer for teachers in schools. Each chapter wrestles with the institutional, social, discursive, embodied and material complexities of negotiating enduring heteronormative practices and policies for queer teachers as they go about their everyday professional lives. This is a compelling and generative international collection that opens up the contradictory socio-political sexual landscape that queer teachers are navigating, whilst advancing queer educational scholarship in the process." - Professor Emma Renold, Cardiff University, UK

Tania Ferfolja, University of Western Sydney, Australia Tiffany Jones, University of New England, Australia Cris Mayo, University of Illinois, USA Aoife Neary, University of Limerick, Ireland Naomi Rudoe, University of Westminster, UK