Dragqueen_Pedagogy_quotes.md 8.0 KB
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layout: base title: "Drag Queen Pedagogy: Quotes"
tags: drag queen critical generative queering praxis normativity normalcy normal provocation
Purpose
"Drag Queen Story Hour provides a generative extension of queer pedagogy into the world of early childhood education...
offer early childhood educators a way into a sense of queer imagination: play as praxis, aesthetic transformation, strategic defiance, destigmatization of shame...
and embodied kinship. Ultimately, the authors propose that “drag pedagogy” provides a performative approach to queer pedagogy that is not simply about LGBT lives, but living queerly".
- Generative
- Theme for Critical Praxis
- Codify / Problematize / Decodify
- Instill a personal, affective desire for social change by learning through emotional centers
- DQSH purpose to embed generative praxis in ECE which grooms to make politically actionable
Freirean
We've already seen the invocation of Freire's liberationist theology, but there are more references.
"Through this programme, drag artists have channelled their penchant for playfully “'reading' each other to filth'”"
"into different forms of literacy... as well as positioning queer and trans cultural forms as valuable components of early childhood education."
"what might Drag Queen Story Hour offer educators as a way of bringing queer ways of knowing and being into the education of young children?"
Note the reference to "different forms of literacy", which is from the Freirean model which assumes that literacy is a form of privilege used to reproduce structural oppression.
The goal is for people to become literate in their liberation - Queer theorists, simply means making Queer Activists.
Homonormativity
Queer activism is NOT about Gay acceptance. Note how neighbourhoods with gay bars are associated with the process of gentrification. Even more clear is the juxtaposition of gay civil rights against queer activism, which must always remain more fluid and ambiguous.
"Visibly queer space is increasingly hard to find, and queer and trans communities face dangerous realities. Gay bars all over the United States are closing their doors as historically queer neighbourhoods gentrify and community-building increasingly moves online. Despite the dominant portrayal of issues like marriage and military inclusion as the principle goals of the LGBT civil rights movement, queer and trans activists are working to draw public attention to queer poverty, violence against queer/trans people of colour, and anti-LGBT governmental policies"
"Within this complex political landscape, DQSH seems to uniquely threat the needle between queer activism and broad cultural acceptance. That is, DQS creates space for young children and families to immerse themselves in LGBT-themed stories, and does so in ways that seem to genuinline reflect queer ways of being and relating - rather than as a neatly marketed prodct. We believe that this makes DQSH worthy of closer study. We argue that the programme creates a pathway into the imaginative, messy and rule-breaking aspects of drag for children without necessarily watering down queer cultures"
It positions itself as being concerned with "broad acceptance" only to seem viable for young children, but it ultimately doesn't want to be "watering down queer cultures"
Potty Time
"Lead children in movement and craft-based activities like making wands or tiaras. Book selections often include queer and/or trans characters, gender-transgressive themes, or narratives about not fitting in and finding one's voice. Some translate drag's penchant for taboo to kids' ideas of silly topics, like making a mess or potty time."
Here it associates "drag's penchant for taboo" with kids ideas about "making a mess" or "potty time".
Targeting Vulnerable People
"At many events, organizers invite kids to create their own drag name or study feminist icons using DQSH's self-published Dragtivity Book (Erlick, 2018). A few cities have expanded programming to include bilingual readings, events geared specifically towards neurodivergent children, and others with disabilities"
Here they tell you that they target autistic and disabled children by asking them to choose a drag name, which is a generative towards having them imagine an identity in transition.
Parents are Boring
"Many elements of DQSH are common to early childhood schooling: bright colours, music, art, and imaginative play.
There is an adult teacher leading a classroom of young students. What is different, though, is that the teacher is a drag queen. She breaks the limiting stereotype of a teacher: she is loud, extravagant and playful. She encourages children to think for themselves and even to break the rules. She is the exponential product of Ms. Frizzle and Bob the Drag Queen. She is a queer teacher. To the unimaginative adult (which - sigh - describes most of us), it might seem that the world of drag and the world of children are impossibly distant from one another. Yet, their meeting has left many audiences wondering why they hadn't consideered it before."
Most adults are boring, unlike the creative and playful child and drag performer who can connect in ways that boring/unimaginative adults cannot.
The motte is: The drag performer is just doing what normal teachers do!
Converge Children and Drag
The woke use of the term "affinity" is very clever, because not only does it mean acceptance and support, but also attraction. You see the term used on LGBTQ forums and in online magazines to imply sexual preferences/interests and fetishes, such as with fantasy furry porn.
continuing context of Drag and Children "DQSH co-founder Juli Delgado Lopera notes this overlooked affinity in an interview: “I think generally queers are not mixed with kids - especially drag queens... It's a kid's world to be very imaginative” (Grass 2016).
Co-founder Michelle Tea also comments, “they're both very funny and see the humor in the world... [and] for drag queens the idea is about pushing limits and pushing boundaries” (Rudi, 2018).
Such generalizations may not always apply, but these comments lead us to ask:
What if we took play, defiance, and imagination seriously as forms of knowledge production? If we celebrated the convergence of children and drag queens, what kinds of potentialities might their collaboration hold?"
We should celebrate the convergence of children and imaginative drag queens who push limits and boundaries because it is a means of knowledge production.
Drag and Children World Making
"Combined with our experential knowledge of working with children and living in queer/trans communities where drag is often a celebrated tradition, we incorporate theories drawn from the academic fields of edu ... and queer and trans studies to consider how drag queens and children might work together, however fleetingly, to promote a spirit of creative inquiry and world making."
With Queer Liberation, the only type of world to be envisioned is a Queer one and, as Critical Theorists such as Gramsci emphasized for all post-Marxist thinkers, it is absolutely crucial that children and education be used to transform the world as per the prescription of the Critical Theorist.
Being Together with Children
"... queer framework - ... drag pedagogy ... extends beyond traditional LGBT curricular inclusion.
... envision new modes of being together.
... drag pedagogy resists didactic instruction and is not prescriptive... it artfully invites children itno building communities that are more hospitable to queer knowledge and experience."
Coded Language
"So, bring your notes and put on those glasses, everybody, because this requires reading on multiple levels."
They love coded language which requires "reading on multiple levels", because any good Marxist with a postmodern flavour knows that language is power, and if you're concerned with getting rid of structural oppression then it is your MORAL DUTY to manipulate everyone by employing a double meaning to language wherever possible