Educational intimacy: Learning, prefiguration, and relationships in an LGBTQ+ youth group's advocacy efforts

• Published in: The Journal of the learning sciences 2021-01, Vol.30 (1), p.52-75
• Main Author: Uttamchandani, Suraj
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advocacy; Discourse Analysis; Ethnography; Interpersonal Relationship; Intimacy; Learning; Learning Processes; LGBTQ People; LGBTQ students; Social Action; Youth
• ISSN: 1050-8406; 1532-7809
• DOI: 10.1080/10508406.2020.1821202

Using a conceptualization of learning as the act of organizing possible futures, I examine prefigurative relationship-building processes. Youth organizing research has shown that relational and political development are outcomes of participation, but offers limited examples of how these developments co-occur in discourse. I research alongside Chroma, an LGBTQ+-themed community-based youth group whose members offer training to teachers and others about working with LGBTQ+ youth. Drawing on critical ethnography and discourse analysis, I engage the question: What was the character of the social relations Chroma youth organized together as they worked to advance their educational advocacy projects? I develop a notion of educational intimacy, which describes relationships that allow for inclusive and productive engagement in advocacy and learning while also mirroring desired future social configurations. I ground my development of educational intimacy in audio data from Chroma meetings, workdays, and trainings. I situate educational intimacy in queer theoretic perspectives and existing learning sciences research. I conclude with some open questions about educational intimacy and learning in collective action projects. Educational intimacy offers a way of talking about how relational and political developments co-occur as learning processes in social movement spaces.