“Homo”-work: Queering Academic Communication and Communicating Queer in Academia

Abstract

In this personal narrative, I rely on academic tales and anecdotes to advocate a specific deployment of queer pedagogy that focuses on the peri-performative aspects of queering Communication. I consider how Communication scholars are uniquely positioned to specify how academic communication might be queered. I also critique the ways in which some people in academia communicate about queer people. The essay challenges the grammars of compulsory heterosexuality in instructional settings and proposes specific ways to queer academe.

Keywords:

• Anecdote
• LGBTQ
• Pedagogy
• Personal narrative
• Instructional communication

Acknowledgments

He would like to thank Fred Corey and the essay's two reviewers for their guidance.

Notes

1. Pseudonyms for students, former teachers, colleagues, and childhood peers have been used throughout the essay.

2. Personal Communication, Feb. 2007. Email.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ragan Fox

Ragan Fox is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at California State University, Long Beach