Troubling gender through mail art

Abstract

A persistent and troubling trend in teacher education programmes is how gender is constructed heteronormatively. Finding ways that challenge novice teacher thinking about gender and gender identities has proven to be difficult ([Grace, A. P., and K. Wells. 2006. “The Quest for a Queer Inclusive Cultural Ethics: Setting Directions for Teachers' Preservice and Continuing Professional Development.” In New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, edited by R. J. Hill, 51–61. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.; Kitchen, J., and C. Bellini. 2012. “Addressing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Issues in Teacher Education: Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions.” Alberta Journal of Educational Research 58 (3): 444–460.]). This article describes a recently completed study in which Mail Art and autoethnographic writing were used to disrupt normative understandings of gender and gender expression. After detailing the study's theoretical foundations, three visual and textual exemplars illustrate how heteronormativity can be productively disrupted. The article ends with a list of potential questions for educators that might disrupt dominant, heteronormative educational practices.

Keywords:

• gender studies
• higher education
• politics of education
• educational leadership

Notes on contributor

Catherine McGregor is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada. She is a scholar in the field of leadership, with a particular interest in how educational leaders act as allies with marginalized communities and engage in social just, inclusive practices.