In other words: queer voices/dissident subjectivities impelling social change

• Published in: International journal of qualitative studies in education 2004-05, Vol.17 (3), p.301-324
• Main Authors: André, P. Grace, Robert, J. Hill, Corey, W. Johnson, Jamie, B. Lewis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0951-8398; 1366-5898
• DOI: 10.1080/0951839042000204670

This essay emerged from the authors' presentation at an invited session of the 15th Annual Conference on Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies (QUIG) at the University of Georgia, Athens, 3-5 January 2002. They presented on the conference theme, 'Vision, Voice & Virtuality: (Re)Conceptualizing Qualitative Representation.' Their work here encompasses their response to the conference organizers' invitation to grapple with (re)conceptualizing qualitative representation. Their goal is to explore the (re)presentation of voices and subjectivities that are engaged in Queer processes for social change. First they question whether Queer can be adequately articulated. They then posit that emerging Queer theory and the actions it invigorates are significant, galvanizing contemporary intellectual and political forces that power social change. Blurring the lines of bounded, intact, stable and essential identity categories-such as straight, lesbian, and gay-they give examples from their qualitative research, including autoethnographic accounts that indicate that the Queer movement has shifting, multiple and overlapping sites of education and resistance. These sites textualize everyday life; contest hetero-hegemony; resist readings that exclude or defame Queers and non-normative identities; allow the development of oppositional practices; and make commitment to social change in an environment of hope and possibility. Finally, they explore some characteristics of Queer qualitative research, and suggest future directions for infusing theory with 'justice to come.'