ERIC ED445339: Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English: Positions, Pedagogies, and Cultural Politics.

358 Pages·2000·3.4 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 217 250
ED 445 339
AUTHOR
Spurlin, William J., Ed.
Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English:
TITLE
Positions, Pedagogies, and Cultural Politics.
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.
INSTITUTION
ISBN-0-8141-2794-0
ISBN
2000-00-00
PUB DATE
NOTE
357p.
National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon
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Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 27940-3050: $27.95
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Collected Works
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Classroom Techniques; *Cultural Context; Elementary
DESCRIPTORS
Secondary Education; *English Curriculum; *English
Instruction; Higher Education; Homophobia; *Homosexuality;
Political Issues; *Sexual Identity; *Writing Instruction
*Gay and Lesbian Studies; Homosexual Literature; Lesbian
IDENTIFIERS
Literature; Queer Theory; Shakespeare (William)
ABSTRACT
This international collection of essays presents a
contemporary overview of issues of sexual identity as they relate to teaching
and learning in English from elementary through university levels. Coming
from teachers in classrooms in India to North America to South Africa to
Europe, the essays theorize lesbian, gay, and transgendered positions in the
classroom, offer pedagogical strategies for teaching lesbian and gay studies,
and examine the broader social and political contexts that shape classroom
discourse and practices. Following the introduction by the editor, the 16
"When the Cave Is a
"Cruising the Libraries" (Lee Lynch);
essays are:
(2)
(1)
Closet: Pedagogies of the (Re)Pressed" (Edward J. Ingebretsen, S.J.);
(3)
"Blame It on the Weatherman: Popular Culture and Pedagogical Praxis in the
"On Not Coming Out:
Lesbian and Gay Studies Classroom" (Jay Kent Lorenz);
(4)
(5) "(Trans)Gendering English
or, Reimagining Limits" (Susan Talburt);
"The Uses of History" (Lillian Faderman);
Studies" (Jody Norton);
(7)
(6)
"'What's Out There?' Gay and Lesbian Literature for Children and Young
"Creating a Place for Lesbian and Gay
Adults" (Claudia Mitchell);
(8)
"Shakespeare's
Readings in Secondary English Classrooms" (Jim Reese);
(9)
"Coming Out and Creating
Sexuality: Who Needs It?" (Mario DiGangi);
(10)
Queer Awareness in the Classroom: An Approach from the U.S.-Mexican Border"
"'Swimming Upstream': Recovering the Lesbian in
(tatiana de la tierra);
(11)
Native American Literature" (Karen Lee Osborne);
"Reading Gender,
(12)
Reading Sexualities: Children and the Negotiation of Meaning in 'Alternative'
"Fault Lines in the Contact Zone: Assessing
Texts" (Debbie Epstein);
(13)
(14) "Queer Pedagogy and
Homophobic Student Writing" (Richard E. Miller);
Social Change: Teaching and Lesbian Identity in South Africa" (Ann Smith);
"The Straight Path to Postcolonial Salvation: Heterosexism and the
(15)
Teaching of English in India Today" (Ruth Vanita); and (16) "Rememorating:
Quilt Readings" (Marcia Blumberg).
(NKA)
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LESBIAN AND GAY STUDIES
ENGLISH
AND THE TEACHING OF
3
Jacqueline Bryant, Kermit Campbell, Xin Liu Gale,
EDITORIAL BOARD:
Sarah Hudelson, Gerald R. Og lan, Helen Poole, Jackie Swensson, Gail
Wood, Faith Z. Schullstrom, Chair, ex officio, Michael Greer and Zarina
Hock, ex officio
Lesbian and Gay Studies
and the Teaching of English
Positions, Pedagogies, and Cultural Politics
Edited by
WILLIAM J. SPURLIN
Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom
National Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096
Staff Editor: Bonny Graham
Interior Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf
Cover Design: Evelyn C. Shapiro
NCTE Stock Number: 27940-3050
©2000 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any infor-
mation storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a
forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teach-
ing of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular
point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the
Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements
of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lesbian and gay studies and the teaching of English: positions, pedagogies,
and cultural politics/edited by William J. Spur lin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8141-2794-0 (pbk.)
1. English philologyStudy and teaching. 2. English philology
Study and teachingPolitical aspects. 3. Homosexuality and
literatureStudy and teaching. 4. Gays' writingsStudy and
teaching. 5. HomosexualityStudy and teaching. 6. Gay and
lesbian studies. 7. Lesbians in literature. 8. Gay men in literature.
I. Spur lin, William J., 1954
PE66.L45 2000
420'.71dc21
00-030567
For David,
again
7
CONTENTS
ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xi
PERMISSIONS
Xiii
INTRODUCTION: QUEER STUDIES/ENGLISH STUDIES
William J. Spur lin
I Positions
1 Cruising the Libraries
3
Lee Lynch
2 When the Cave Is a Closet: Pedagogies of the
(Re)Pressed
14
Edward J. Ingebretsen, S.J.
3 Blame It on the Weatherman: Popular Culture and
Pedagogical Praxis in the Lesbian and Gay Studies
Classroom
36
Jay Kent Lorenz
4 On Not Coming Out: or, Reimagining Limits
54
Susan Talburt
5 (Trans)Gendering English Studies
79
Jody Norton
II Pedagogies
6 The Uses of History
109
Lillian Faderman
7 "What's Out There?" Gay and Lesbian Literature
for Children and Young Adults
112
Claudia Mitchell
8 Creating a Place for Lesbian and Gay Readings in
Secondary English Classrooms
131
Jim Reese
vii
Contents
9 Shakespeare's Sexuality: Who Needs It?
Mario DiGangi
147
10 Coming Out and Creating Queer Awareness in the
Classroom: An Approach from the U.S.-Mexican
Border
tatiana de la tierra
168
11 "Swimming Upstream": Recovering the Lesbian in
Native American Literature
Karen Lee Osborne
191
III The Politics of Culture
12 Reading Gender, Reading Sexualities: Children and
the Negotiation of Meaning in "Alternative" Texts
Debbie Epstein
213
13 Fault Lines in the Contact Zone: Assessing
Homophobic Student Writing
Richard E. Miller
234
14 Queer Pedagogy and Social Change: Teaching and
Lesbian Identity in South Africa
Ann Smith
253
15 The Straight Path to Postcolonial Salvation:
Heterosexism and the Teaching of English in India
Today
Ruth Vanita
272
16 Rememorating: Quilt Readings
Marcia Blumberg
288
INDEX
311
EDITOR
321
CONTRIBUTORS
323
viii
9.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Iwould like to express my deepest gratitude to those without
whom the successful completion of this book would not have
been possible. I am most grateful for the wonderful support of
the National Council of Teachers of English for soliciting this
project and for encouraging its completion. The contributors of
this volume and I are most honored to be part of NCTE's first
lesbian and gay studies book title. I would like to also express
heartfelt thanks and appreciation to those members of the NCTE
Executive Committee who have vigilantly supported and con-
tinue to espouse the greater visibility and awareness of lesbian
and gay studies within the teaching of English across the levels of
instruction. These individuals include NCTE Executive Director
Faith Schullstrom; past, present, and future NCTE Presidents
Carol Avery, Joan Naomi Steiner, Jerome C. Harste, Anne Ruggles
Gere, and Leila Christenbury; and other members of the current
Executive Committee, especially Nancy McCracken, Char leen
Silva Delfino, Victor Villanueva, Jr., Kathy Egawa, and Dale
Allender. I have been encouraged, both in my work in lesbian
and gay studies and in putting together this collection, by the
time spent with each of them in thoughtful conversation and in
endless e-mail and written correspondence.
This book would not be possible without the creation of a
Assembly
new forum at NCTE, the Gay and Straight Educators
(GSEA, formerly AGLAIA), for which I served as program chair
from 1994 to 1999. Several of the essays that appear here began
Annual Con-
as papers presented at GSEA sessions at NCTE's
vention and were subsequently revised for publication in this col-
lection. I mention this because I did not want to lose the important
connection to those early sessions at NCTE conventions that pro-
vided a space in which to seriously address and theorize same-
lesbian and gay
sex desire, queer difference(s), the teaching of
1 u