Queer(y)ing and recrafting agency: moving away from a model of coercion versus escape

Abstract

This paper applies a Butlerian-inspired ‘queer(y)ing’ methodology to disrupt the utility of agency being framed within the binary of escape and coercion. In particular, it uses Butler's concept of performative resignification to analyse how Simon, a 16-year-old white male student, maneouvres his way through the social conventions of senior subject selection at his secondary school which is located in an outer-metropolitan suburb of Queensland in Australia. Queer theory is often caught up in a habit of thinking that positions it predominantly within the field of gender and sexualities research, thus limiting and constraining what it can do and where it can be used. By using a queer(y)ing methodology to explore senior schooling subject selection and participation, this paper also disrupts and expands the parameters of association with queer theory.

Keywords:

• Judith Butler
• queer theory
• performative resignification
• agency
• senior schooling

Notes

1. Perhaps understandably so, given that Butler is a philosopher.

2. Authority' subjects are ones that have been developed by the QSA.

3. ‘Overall Position’ (OP) is the tertiary rank system used in Queensland for entry into university. It works on a scale of 1–25, with 1 being the best and 25 the worst.