Educational intimacy: Learning, prefiguration, and relationships in an LGBTQ+ youth group’s advocacy efforts

ABSTRACT

Background

Using a conceptualization of learning as the act of organizing possible futures, I examine prefigurative relationship-building processes. Youth organizing research has shown that relational and political development are outcomes of participation, but offers limited examples of how these developments co-occur in discourse.

Methods

I research alongside Chroma, an LGBTQ+-themed community-based youth group whose members offer training to teachers and others about working with LGBTQ+ youth. Drawing on critical ethnography and discourse analysis, I engage the question: What was the character of the social relations Chroma youth organized together as they worked to advance their educational advocacy projects?

Findings

I develop a notion of educational intimacy, which describes relationships that allow for inclusive and productive engagement in advocacy and learning while also mirroring desired future social configurations. I ground my development of educational intimacy in audio data from Chroma meetings, workdays, and trainings.

Contribution

I situate educational intimacy in queer theoretic perspectives and existing learning sciences research. I conclude with some open questions about educational intimacy and learning in collective action projects. Educational intimacy offers a way of talking about how relational and political developments co-occur as learning processes in social movement spaces.

Acknowledgments

Key insights in this paper were offered by Jessica Lester and Barbara Dennis. I also appreciated helpful perspectives provided by Jacob McWilliams, Ben Kirshner, and the Learning to Engage group. Finally, I thank Joe Curnow, Susan Jurow, and the anonymous reviewers for their tremendous contributions.

Notes

¹ Pseudonyms are used for the organization, town, and participants.