Wavering and Pushing: Languaging Nationality in a High School LGBTQ+-Themed Literature Course

Abstract

This study focuses on languaging about nationality in an LGBTQ+-themed literature classroom in a queer-friendly high school in the midwestern region of the United States. It was a blend of ethnography and teacher research in which I constructed and analyzed data that included daily field notes, audio and video recordings of class meetings, audio recordings of interviews with students, documents, and artifacts such as teacher materials and student work. For this article, I asked: How did the high school students in these LGBTQ+-themed Literature courses use language, including written language, to conceptualize nationality, in relation to themselves and the United States? To answer this question, I studied the data that showed us grapple with nationality and nationalism in a context that foregrounded LGBTQ+people. I examined the talk and writing of two students, John and Olivia, who used language, including written language, to conceptualize nationality, in very different, even conflicting, but not wholly incompatible ways. Thus, they did so in ways that left room for change, to varying degrees. Through both wavering and pushing, John and Olivia made space for movement, for change. I argue that it was important to engage in conversations that were, at a particular time and place, more contentious, in a context that foregrounded something less contentious. That we must find the places and times where and when we can be and talk and listen with one another, where and when we can waver, ideologically, and push one another and ourselves.