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Dancing In The Liminal Tension: A Phenomenological Study Of How Queer Black Boys Manifest Happiness In An Urban Midwest High School, Kendrick D. Johnson

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Urban public schools, as social institutions, have historically played an integral role in reproducing the oppressive ideologies of society writ large. As we depart an era of cautious optimism, many LGBTQ students are teetering on the brink of hopelessness and despair. So often many of these students’ voices—particularly those of queer Black boys—are still silenced. Ergo, there is a sense of urgency on the part of educators, researchers, and policy-makers to understand how and why queer Black boys consistently disrupt the hegemonic terrain of schools by transforming them into liminal spaces; it is in these sacred spaces-in-between that new identity …