Queering College Student Retention
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2020
Keywords
queer theory, retention, LGBT students
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025119895515
Abstract
Retention literature and concepts warrant examination through the lens of queer theory, a poststructural body of thought about sexuality and gender, to understand their implications for queer students. Five themes found in the retention literature are addressed from a queer perspective: framing retention as an economic and labor problem; campus climate; the focus on programs, policies, and services; psychological traits; and positivistic approaches. Queering retention involves deconstructing retention binaries; problematizing the production of normative subjects through retention theory; focusing on institutional transformation; and examining retention as heteronormative domination. Queer failure and futurity are offered as possible new frames for retention. This essay seeks to raise questions, tensions, and complexities with no clear or simple solutions. Tentative and limited implications for practice and research are offered; however, they raise more questions than provide answers.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, v. 21, issue 4, p. 544-566
Scholar Commons Citation
Denton, J. Michael, "Queering College Student Retention" (2020). Leadership, Counseling, Adult, Career and Higher Education Faculty Publications. 299.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/ehe_facpub/299
