Revisiting the “Discursive Faultlines” of Sexual and Gender Identity Inquiry
Affiliation
Barry University
Department or Program
Department of Curriculum and Instruction / TESOL
Start Date
15-4-2017 2:10 PM
End Date
15-4-2017 2:40 PM
Presentation Keywords/Areas
Emerging trends in Qualitative Research
Additional Presentation Keywords/Areas
Arts-Based Methodologies
Additional Presentation Keywords/Areas
Researcher as Writer (Auto-Ethnography, Narrative Inquiry, etc).
Abstract
In this arts-based research ethnodrama (Saldaña, 2011), the presenters perform the experiences of an MA TESOL graduate student and a faculty member in the context of a “Cross-Cultural Issues” course. Both happenstance and purposeful encounters with discursive faultlines (Menard-Warwick, 2009) around issues of sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation—what Nelson (2009) terms sexual identity inquiry—and, as well, their interrelationships and relationship to cultural relativism were central to the experiences. Such was the case when—in the context of a “New Cultural Experience” course assignment—one student reported having attended a “drag queen show” performance as her new cultural experience. This led other students in the course—who were themselves culturally and linguistically diverse and unfamiliar with this phenomenon—to raise questions about sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, as well as this topic’s relationship to language teaching. Data for the arts-based research inquiry (Leavy, 2009) were drawn from narrative artifacts of the course participant and instructor, as well as constructed data that emerged through dialogue among the ethnodramatist and co-contributors. Data were then analyzed, restoried (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), and ethhnotheatrically represented (Saldaña, 2011) as performative texts which the ethnodramatist believes provide opportunity for fostering a stance of respect and relativity concerning differences in both culture and gender among TESOL professionals. Time for reflective discussion around methodologies employed and pedagogical implications will be reserved.
Revisiting the “Discursive Faultlines” of Sexual and Gender Identity Inquiry
In this arts-based research ethnodrama (Saldaña, 2011), the presenters perform the experiences of an MA TESOL graduate student and a faculty member in the context of a “Cross-Cultural Issues” course. Both happenstance and purposeful encounters with discursive faultlines (Menard-Warwick, 2009) around issues of sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation—what Nelson (2009) terms sexual identity inquiry—and, as well, their interrelationships and relationship to cultural relativism were central to the experiences. Such was the case when—in the context of a “New Cultural Experience” course assignment—one student reported having attended a “drag queen show” performance as her new cultural experience. This led other students in the course—who were themselves culturally and linguistically diverse and unfamiliar with this phenomenon—to raise questions about sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, as well as this topic’s relationship to language teaching. Data for the arts-based research inquiry (Leavy, 2009) were drawn from narrative artifacts of the course participant and instructor, as well as constructed data that emerged through dialogue among the ethnodramatist and co-contributors. Data were then analyzed, restoried (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), and ethhnotheatrically represented (Saldaña, 2011) as performative texts which the ethnodramatist believes provide opportunity for fostering a stance of respect and relativity concerning differences in both culture and gender among TESOL professionals. Time for reflective discussion around methodologies employed and pedagogical implications will be reserved.
Presentation Type and Comments
A 45 minute session is requested, which would allow sufficient time for both ethnographic performance, as well as discussion. The presenters could certainly extend the session to a 90-minute workshop if the symposium organizers would be interested in an expanded session as such.
Note: The ethnodramatist and first presenter is an alumni of USF. The second presenter is a Barry University doctoral student who agreed to perform in the session if it is selected/approved by the adjudicators. Two contributors (the 'participants' who experienced the phenomena central to this inquiry) are from the USF community as well: an alumna and a faculty member, both of whom participated openly in this inquiry.