"Home Is Where Your Politics Are is a transnational consideration of queer and trans activism in the US South and South Africa. Through ethnographic exploration of queer and trans activist work in both places, Jessica Scott paints a vibrant picture of what life is like in relation to a narrative that says that queer life is harder, if not impossible, in rural areas and on the African continent. The book asks questions like, what do activists in these places care about and how do stories about where they live get in the way of the life they envision for the queer and trans people for whom they advocate? Answers to these questions provide insight that only these activists have, into the complexity of locally based advocacy strategies in a globalized world"--
Home Is Where Your Politics Are is a transnational consideration of queer and trans activism in the US South and South Africa. Through ethnographic exploration of queer and trans activist work in both places, Jessica Scott paints a vibrant picture of what life is like in relation to a narrative that says that queer life is harder, if not impossible, in rural areas and on the African continent. The book asks questions like, what do activists in these places care about and how do stories about where they live get in the way of the life they envision for the queer and trans people for whom they advocate? Answers to these questions provide insight that only these activists have, into the complexity of locally based advocacy strategies in a globalized world
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The Name is a Guest of the Substance brings together works of video, installation, live performance, sculpture, and print to investigate the constructions of kinship that organize us into the world as historical, ecological, and political subjects. Herter Gallery's 1600 sq. ft space is utilized in full for this project. The work in both galleries evaluates systems of categorization in light of their power to foster or discourage kinship within overlapping local, global and ecological communities. While the West Gallery uses my own multi-racial American genealogy to challenge the authority of historical and autobiographical origins, the East gallery uses manipulations of scale to emphasize the overlooked and ungovernable ways non-human forms of life frustrate our constant attempts at establishing a stable hierarchy of biological relations.
The metropolis has featured prominently in queer theory, cultural productions and advocacy work as the ideal site of queer life (Massad, 2002; Gray, 2009; Herring, 2010). Because of the concentration of resources in the metropole and discursive investments in locating 'outof-the-way places' (Tsing, 1993) at a temporal and geographic distance from metropolitan centres, I argue that queer organising in 'out-of-the-way places' is 'southerned'. In other words, work that happens at the geographic margins continues to be rendered unrecognisable in a metric of 'rights', generated in a specific location and projected as 'universal'. This dissertation is an account of the way that 'discursive formations' (Foucault 1972) shape the context for queer presence and work in 'out-of-the-way places.' The ethnographic work presented here was conducted in the United States South and South Africa over a period of two years, during which I collected and analysed public presentations and semi-structured in-depth interviews thematically and with discourse analysis. Through field work in two 'souths', the analysis presented here is situated in relation to a body of theoretical work that is interested in spatial and temporal politics of sexuality that frame 'out-of-the-way places' as inhospitable to queer existence. The hegemonic discourses of 'rights' generated in the metropole renders the kinds of work and existence carried out by queer bodies in 'out-of-the-way places' illegible. Queer work is ongoing in 'out-of-the-way places'. This dissertation seeks to understand how that work is shaped both by the contexts in which the work unfolds and by the metronormative demands placed on what working queerly is supposed to look like. The research concludes that the complexities of queer existence and queer work in the 'two souths' represented here must be understood on their own terms rather than through the reductive lens of expectations and interpretations projected from the metropole. In order for queer work to thrive in 'out-of-the-way places', historical and contemporary issues that are residues of colonial legacies of resource extraction, violence, exploitation, environmental degradation and restricted access to a range of things not reducible to the metronormative rubric of 'rights' must be addressed.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-124). ; This research explores the meanings of marriage for South African lesbian women who have accessed marriage as a legal right through the Civil Union Act since its inception in 2006. As a researcher coming from the United States, where same-sex marriage is not nationally available, to South Africa, where same-sex marriage is a constitutionally recognised legal right, my research began with the question, "What has changed?" Because same -sex marriage is highly contested in disparate global spaces, an understanding of how the legislation is being used by those accessing it has the potential to contribute to a body of knowledge encouraging more inclusive legal relationship recognition in spaces where same-sex marriage is not yet legally available. The research makes use of semi-structured in depth interviews with 15 South African lesbian women who have married through the Civil Union Act. The women come from diverse "racial", religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Calling on feminist frameworks theorising marriage as an institution which has historically restricted women's social, political and economic autonomy, in addition to literature framing marriage as a contemporary "battle ground" for human rights, the research attempts to conceptualise the relationship of married lesbian women to their citizenship through their experiences of accessing a legal right embedded in specific cultural, social and religious meanings. The research concludes that while a right critical to the experience of citizenship is being exercised by lesbian women in South Africa, the richer experience theorized as "belonging" has not been fully inscribed in their lived realities. For the lesbian women represented in this research, marriage involves a re- examination of their partnerships as a precondition for the "traditional" celebratory involvement of family and community. Therefore, while marriage has been understood to embody both legal and symbolic meanings, viewing marriage as a human rights issue reveals a fracture between the legal aspects of the institution and the socio-religious contexts that lend it its authority. The research attempts to identify alternative ways of viewing marriage and family constructions by privileging the experience of lesbian women who have accessed marriage from their diverse social and cultural "sites". The research suggests that theorizing marriage from the site of the partners' happiness or fulfilment is a powerful lens with which to destabilise the dominant discourses of respectability most commonly invoked as a point of departure for discussions around same-sex marriage.
F or decades , research has focused on American Sign Language/English bilingual education for d/Deaf and hard of hearing students whose families used English or ASL. However, a growing population of d/Dhh children come from households where languages other than English (e.g., Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese) are used. In a longitudinal case study, the authors document the K–12 educational pathway of a deaf Latina student. Anecdotal records, semistructured interviews, assessment data, and document reviews of the participant's school and clinical records are used to develop the case study. The findings provide the basis for recommendations for future research and for critical factors to consider to improve the education of d/Dhh Multilingual Learners (DMLs). These include ensuring appropriate educational placements, addressing early communication and language needs, determining effective instructional techniques and assessments, strengthening the L1 to support L2 learning, and providing students with opportunities to learn their heritage language.
Deaf education is an incoherent macrosystem whose sub‐systems - e.g., biomedical vs. sociocultural institutions - contradict. Unreconciled tensions cause stagnation, not regeneration, and harmful dissensus in deaf educational sub‐systems. To revitalize deaf education, address these contradictions, and eliminate incoherence, we posit that a deafled systemic transformation of deaf education is necessary; furthermore, we argue it may best be realized through theories and actions constitutive of anarchism. To this end, we synthesize four thematic loci where anarchism overtly aligns with constructs immanent in deaf communities. First, collectivism is necessary for survival in anarchist and deaf communities toward shared goals including equity in education, social labor, and politics. Second, mutual aid is integral - like anarchists who work arm‐in‐arm, deaf individuals and groups exhibit uncanny solidarity across political, cultural, technological, linguistic, and geographical boundaries. Third, direct action tactics overlap in both groups: When facing internal or external threats, both communities effectively rally local mechanisms to affect change. Finally, both groups exhibit a stubborn, existential refusal to be subdued or ruled by outsiders. Reframing systemic dilemmas in deaf education via anarchism is a novel, beneficial praxis that's only been tangentially explored. Centering anarchism in deaf education also generates succor for ongoing struggles about sign language in deaf communities. Toward the horizon of radical equality, our staunchly anarchist analysis of deaf education argues that to guide deaf‐positive system change neoliberalism is inert and neo‐fascism anathema.
Abstract: Deaf education research and practice have not always lived up to the ideal of improving deaf students' lives. Consequently, we have constructed novel arguments supporting deaf pedagogy using pragmatic ethics, the aim of which is to increase benefit and decrease harm to individuals and society. The ideal of harm reduction asks the pragmatist to pursue the path of action least likely to result in injury to others. Besides applying ideas that reduce harm, educators must also increase benefits for deaf students. Our analysis synthesizes Vygotskian perspectives on deaf pedagogy and pragmatic ideals about reducing harm and increasing benefit. We propose six arguments that can enable deaf educators to think about and enact deaf-positive concepts and strengths-based classroom interactions, including the use of sign language, images, and text, among other modes, such as speech. Our goal is to reduce the threat of harm from language deprivation.
