Abstract
In this chapter, I draw on queer theory to make sense of one prospective male teacher’s commitment to queering heterosexuality. The focus is on examining the motivations behind this teacher candidate’s commitment to queering masculinity and his straight teacher identity. The implications of this case study for queering masculinities in male teachers’ lives more broadly are outlined in relation to drawing out the pedagogical significance of embodying masculinity as a site for interrupting heteronormativity. It is argued that there is a need for teachers to be provided with access to a conceptual vocabulary and, hence, to queer analytic frameworks that are capable of illuminating the significance of the regulatory apparatus of heterosexuality and, thus, the extent to which sexual regimes draw limits and set boundaries for implementing pedagogical practices that are committed to equity and social justice.
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Notes
- 1.
This interview is drawn from a small-scale research project funded by Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, in 2000. The study involved interviewing 6 teacher candidates in Canada and 10 in Australia. The subjects were asked in the interviews to talk about why they had chosen to become a teacher, whether they thought there were any issues that influenced them as males training to be teachers, and what they had learnt about being a teacher from their practicum experiences. Toward the end of the interview, the subjects were also asked specifically to reflect on specific issues of masculinity, how they defined it and what they saw its significance to be in their lives as prospective teachers.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge Deborah Berrill, Trent University, for her support in setting up the interviews I conducted with the Canadian research subjects who participated in the research on which this chapter is based.
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Martino, W. (2012). Queering Masculinities in Male Teachers’ Lives. In: Landreau, J., Rodriguez, N. (eds) Queer Masculinities. Explorations of Educational Purpose, vol 21. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2552-2_2
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