Conference Paper: Working Annotated Bibliography

Ingebretsen, Edward J. “When the Cave Is a Closet: Pedagogies of the (Re)Pressed.” In Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English: Positions, Pedagogies, and Cultural Politics. Ed. William J. Spurlin. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2000. 14-35. A gay professor at a Catholic university, Ingebretsen makes the point that teachers like him are probably the most monstrous of creatures in the heterosexist, patriarchal culture of the West. Being openly gay in the classroom means risking becoming a public and a political spectacle. This underscores how heterosexuality presumes and perpetuates its normality and its role as the enforcer of all kinds of behaviors it considers acceptable and non-acceptable. Allowing gays and lesbians to have a voice in the rarified space of the classroom is transgressive and potentially liberating. Useful within my own project for considering how my own sexuality could come into play as a composition professor and for how to prepare for groups of students who are like the trapped figures in Plato’s Cave and may not deal easily or well with the idea of the gay Other.

Khayatt, Didi. “Paradoxes of the Closet: Beyond the Classroom Assignment of In or Out.” In Inside the Academy and Out: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Studies and Social Action. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. 31-48. In this piece, Khayatt argues for professors to be open and upfront about their personal investments—particularly as regards sexuality—in the courses they teach. Being open about sexuality allows teachers to reinforce and support their students, be a role model, to participate in the ongoing project of unsettling the dominance of heterosexuality, to avoid the continuation of institutionalizing homophobia, and to, as leaders, put the self on the line. Useful for my project because Khayatt provides a cogent argument for being out in the classroom that challenges the neutrality Kopelson argues for in her piece and which makes me uncomfortable.

Kopelson, Karen. “Rhetoric on the Edge of Cunning; Or, The Performance of Neutrality (Re)Considered As a Composition Pedagogy for Student Resistance.” College Composition and Communication. 55.1 (2003): 115-146. Kopelson’s main argument in this piece is that composition professors should teach from what she describes as a position of neutrality—even if their pedagogical goals are far from being neutral. She feels such an approach to teaching will accomplish more as far as reaching resistant undergraduates than being open and explicit about where one stands on issues such as gender and sexuality in the classroom. Useful for my project because I do not agree with Kopelson’s idea of pedagogical subterfuge, even if it may be more effective in changing the minds of students for the better about all of the Others they will encounter in their lives.

Malinowitz, Harriet. “‘Truth’ or Consequences: The Lesbian or Gay Student in the Mainstream Writing Class.” Chapter Two of Textual Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Students and the Making of Discourse Communities. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1995. 35-44. Given the undeniable and pervasive homophobia of Western society, the lesbian or gay student in the composition classroom faces myriad difficulties when faced with the charge of writing authentically about their lived experience. What, Malinowitz wonders, would help such students to feel comfortable and empowered to write about such things as coming out, one of the most singular and crucial experiences of gays and lesbians, yet one that is discounted entirely by normative heterosexuality? How can such students become empowered as writers? Advocates creating a “safe” classroom where gay and lesbian students can be themselves without fear of harm of any kind. Useful for my project in imagining what kind of a composition classroom I could create in which all students are welcome and encouraged to be authentic and real.

——. “Adrian O’Connor: ‘It’s a Social World.’” Chapter Eight of Textual Orientations: Lesbian and Gay Students and the Making of Discourse Communities. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1995. 163-185. This chapter of Malinowitz’s book describes the experiences of a young gay man known as Adrian in the composition classroom that Malinowitz led at what she refers to as Cosmopolitan University. With the encouragement of his teacher and his fellow students, this writing course allowed Adrian to find his authentic voice and, perhaps more importantly, his identity as a young gay man. Useful to my project for revealing how my interventions as a gay composition professor might help my students at some point in the future.

Wallace, David L. “Out in the Academy: Heterosexism, Invisibility, and Double Consciousness.” College English. 65.1 (2002): 53-66. Focuses on three experiences Wallace, as a gay professor at Iowa Sate University, had facing heterosexism in the academy. For Wallace, these “institutional moments” led him “to speak or write as a gay academic in the service of beginning to make political interventions in dominant culture” (54). The most poignant of the three experiences involved gay students at ISU who were prevented from attending meetings of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Ally Alliance on campus because of commitments to a summer bridge program the administrators of would not find a way to accommodate. For Wallace, the administrators’ actions made it seem as if the students’ sexuality/identity did not matter. Though unsuccessful in getting the administrators to change their minds about the LGBTAA, Wallace did what he could to help the students. Useful for my project for providing examples of the kinds of interventions I could on behalf of my students once in the position to do so.