Learner, Teacher, Foreigner, Queer: A Narrative Examination of Identity Conflict

Mon, Aug 10, 2009 10:30am - 12:10pm
Roundtable: Sexualities

There currently exists a marginalization of non-heteronormative sexual identities in the TESOL community as evidenced by their exclusion in instructional materials and classroom practices. How teachers and materials creators position this subject a) reflects their generalized widespread beliefs about it, overt or covert, and b) transmits these beliefs to students. The benefits of including queer issues in the classroom are numerous, but what is necessitated by an instructor in order to do so? In order to explore the realities of addressing and revealing sexuality, I focus on my own struggle with queer identities in (and outside) the Japanese TESOL classroom by considering and analyzing a previously written narrative. I conclude that both perceptions of social context and the conflict that may result from competition of identities can serve to silence specific identity performances.

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