Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Lgbtq People Of Color And Digital Spaces Of Empowerment, Eden Bonjo

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In recent history, the internet has been considered a place where disembodied users can escape the limitations of their corporeal bodies. But in the contemporary moment, the digital and the physical worlds have become mutually constitutive. What happens when a politics of race, sexuality, and gender is centered in an analysis of digital activity? LGBTQ people of color use strategies to navigate marginalizing social dynamics of power both offline and online. This negotiation is important because of how integral the internet has become to everyday life. In the age of social media, cultural production has become the business of the …

La Negra Tiene Tumbao: Multimodal Resistance Strategies Of Afro-Latinxs And Other Queer Constructions, Kassandra Colón Cisneros

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

The importance of sound in Afro- diasporic communities hearkens back to the slave cry on the plantation field, a sound that showed there is social life within social death. These survival and resistance strategies still exist today, and are not limited to music; they can also be traced through aesthetics, as well as routes and history that connect Afro-Latinxs to the diaspora. The deployment of diasporic resistance through what Juan Flores calls “baggage,” show the possibility and radical potential for survival in white spaces. Recognizing the necessity to dismantle white heteronormative spaces, my research will analyze how Afro-Latinxs—especially those who …

A Pre-Medical Student’S Reconciliation Of Feminist Narratives Regarding Women’S Health: A Consideration Of Perspectives On Childbirth In The U.S., Laura Clayton

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Many feminists argue that one major negative aspect of reproductive healthcare in the U.S. is the common over-medicalization of women during childbirth, including potentially unnecessary procedures such as cesarean-section and episiotomy. As a solution, they advocate for increased involvement of midwives in childbirth practices, as midwives allow women to give birth at home with minimal medical intervention. This paper analyzes the benefits of midwifery as well as the current increased risk associated with homebirth in the U.S. Additionally, it questions the damaging stigma associated with assumptions of cesarean-section as a suboptimal outcome. A false dichotomy has developed in our culture …

Shame And The Struggle Of Sexual Identity, Brooke English

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper examines the development and use of language in minority communities within the queer community from the beginning of the 20th century through today. The pre-Stonewall era is explored through two literary works, Quentin Crisp’s The Naked Civil Servant (1997/1968) and Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness (1990/1928), and the post- Stonewall era looks at two 21st century groups, the undocuqueer movement and the group of queer people who use Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), otherwise known as Truvada Whores. Drawing on analysis of the modern groups found in Hinda Seif’s Coming out of the Shadows and undocuqueer and Tim Dean’s …

Creative Submission: For The Androgynous, Elias Fulmer

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Queering/Querying Educational Spaces: The Lgbtqia2+ Learning And Affirming Challenge, Jennifer L. Bonnet, Liliana Herakova, Tausif Karim

Feminist Pedagogy

Legislation regulating learning content and approaches seek to limit exposure to and consideration of non-cis-heteronormative ways of being and knowing (Sawchuk, 2022). Denial of access to a more difference-affirming curricula reinforces hegemonic cultural norms (Chen & Lawless, 2018). Research on the college experiences of LGBTQIA2+ identifying individuals indicates a generally chilly campus climate, recognizing that “colleges and universities have historically been shaped by and for cisgender, straight individuals” (Pryor, 2017, p. 36). Educators can play a key role in reshaping this reality by co-constructing affirming environments where learners can generatively engage with difference and grow their capacities for cultural responsiveness …

“I Can’T Learn When I’M Hungry”: Responding To U.S. College Student Basic Needs Insecurity In Pedagogy And Praxis, Jasmine R. Linabary, Rebecca Rodriguez Carey

Feminist Pedagogy

Food insecurity and other basic needs insecurities were pressing concerns for U.S. college students prior to the COVID-19 crisis and are even more so now. These issues disproportionately impact minoritized students, making addressing basic needs an issue of educational equity. As feminist teacher-scholars, we reflect in this essay on what it means to teach in the context of student basic needs insecurities, drawing on our experiences from launching an interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to combatting food insecurity on our campus. In doing so, we seek to catalyze changes within and beyond the classroom to better support students.

Teaching Intersectionality: Moving Between Theory And Practice, Janine Armstrong

Feminist Pedagogy

In this critical commentary, I reflect on teaching intersectionality in the classroom. By continuously shifting between theory and practice, students are able to understand and later apply intersectionality. First, I discuss how I introduce intersectionality through classroom discussion. Second, I highlight how the importance of self-reflection and analysis to aid in understanding. Lastly, I mention ways I incorporate intersectionality throughout the course.

Digital Waves: Communicating Feminist Movements, Shauna M. Macdonald

Feminist Pedagogy

Online learning provides opportunities for pedagogical growth and innovation. When tasked with teaching an undergraduate Gender and Communication class during a virtual semester (amid the COVID-19 pandemic), I sought ways to engage students through online technologies rather than working against or despite them. The Digital Waves (DW) assignment, one that asks students to research and then create digital representations of a particular “wave” of feminism, was one of several strategies I adopted; it quickly evolved into a favorite.

“Civil Dialogue” As Feminist Pedagogy: Engendering Material And Symbolic Movement, Sarah E. Jones

Feminist Pedagogy

In the United States, we are socialized to think in Western dualisms, and these patterns of communication characterize discussion of social issues. Consequently, discussion becomes debate and dominant approaches to inquiry are privileged over experience with persuasion being the end goal. Fostering agency, cultivating empathetic understanding, and facilitating critical thought are made more difficult—outcomes that are neither productive nor edifying in the college classroom. This original teaching activity resists hierarchical forms of debate in favor of visibility and solidarity in discussions of gendered violence. Grounded in principles of invitational rhetoric and provocation, the activity uses a “Civil Dialogue” format to …

Moving Students Toward Activism: Microblogging About Gender-Based Violence To Channel Emotion And Encourage Action, Janell C. Bauer

Feminist Pedagogy

For students in gender studies courses, a unit on gender-based violence can be jarring. However, faculty can reflect on how to help students engage their emotions to enhance their learning and participate in gender activism. Students also benefit through the opportunity to reflect on their feelings and engage their emotional experience as part of their learning. In this assignment, I share how I’ve used a microblogging assignment to channel students’ emotions about gender-based violence into action-oriented digital activism content.

Engaging Movement(S) In And As Pedagogy, Anne Kerber, Jessica M. Rick

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Catching Babies: Helping Students Understand Reproductive Justice Through Black Maternal Health, Jillian A. Tullis

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Academic Spaces Of Possibility? A Proleptic Dialogue With Blackfeminism At The Center, Liliana Herakova, Lauren O. Babb, Kevin Roberge

Feminist Pedagogy

This critical commentary engages our experiences as co-educators in a “Black Feminist Thought and Expression” (BFTE) course, first-of-its-kind at our predominantly white institution in the U.S.. We imagine and provoke redefinitions of “classrooms” and “students” toward the liberatory dialogic learning bell hooks continues to inspire. We reflect on the potentials and perils of BFTE as pedagogical moves toward 1) becoming learners over and over again and 2) creating multiple different learning spaces, not confined to the physical classroom or to texts-as-usual. By bringing our beings together in both this essay and in BFTE, we re-member the dialogic pedagogy of love-as-action …

Playing With Privilege: A Creative Way For Students To Unpack Privilege, Ashley D. Garcia

Feminist Pedagogy

Although privilege is a foundational concept in many courses, students often have only a vague notion of it, which hinders discussion and analysis. This activity/assignment, grounded in bell hooks' engaged pedagogy, tasks students with visually representing and explaining a concrete instance of privilege to their peers. Through creating comic strips, students must interrogate their assumptions of privilege and begin to encounter its intersectional structure. Creating comic strips that depict privilege helps students grasp the concept and apply it in their self-reflection. Moreover, this establishes a foundation from which students can interrogate the positions of privilege that structure their social realities.

Editor's Statement: Bringing The Past Into The Digital Present, Ryan Debrovner

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Documentary Review: Coded Bias, Sydney Elaine Brammer

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Harnessing Your Feminist Rage: A Multimedia Assignment For Upper-Level Courses, Caitlin E. Lawson

Feminist Pedagogy

"Harnessing Your Feminist Rage" introduces a three-part multimedia assignment that encourages students to think critically about feminist anger, particularly as refracted through social media. First, students introduce and analyze a media text or phenomenon that made them angry and reflect upon that anger. Then, using whichever online medium they choose, students call out the offender and express their anger to the audience of their choice in order to meet a specific goal. Finally, students reflect on their expression of anger and their experience creating their response. Overall, the goal is for students to combine their knowledge of feminist theories and …

Teaching Feminist Media Studies In A Post-Weinstein Era, Gigi Mcnamara

Feminist Pedagogy

In this critical commentary, I will address the concept of witnessing as it relates to contemporary feminist empowerment while also properly situating Weinstein-produced films as historical mediated texts.

The Threat Of Returning To “Normal”: Resisting Ableism In The Post-Covid Classroom, Sarah M. Parsloe, Elizabeth M. Smith

Feminist Pedagogy

The abrupt switch to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted pervasive ableism; accommodations that had been “impossible” were suddenly available. This critical commentary draws from interviews with 16 students and our own ethnographic accounts as student/professor to understand how COVID shaped disabled experiences in the classroom. As a student with a disability, Elizabeth was hyperaware of her vulnerability to illness, but also experienced herself as less impaired online. She could control her learning environment to minimize sensory and mobility challenges. Additionally, professors’ flexible policies helped her to manage energy, time, and symptoms. However, Elizabeth and her peers feared an …

Witnessing With Cameras Off: Feminist Pedagogy And The Zoom Classroom, Kristin Comeforo

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Witnessing Engaged Voices: A Feminist Pedagogy Of Inclusion, Alana M. Nicastro, Patricia Geist-Martin

Feminist Pedagogy

When student perspectives, needs, and wants are left out of academic discourse, the discursive structures necessary to encourage, organize, and evaluate their voice are absent. Students then become ambivalent instead of exercising their voice and decisively assessing the value of their contributions. This original teaching activity targets the problematics that constrain voices in the classroom and invites readers and listeners to consider their positionality and action as a commitment to a Feminist Pedagogy of Inclusion (FPoI). In this way, students and professors can deliberately hold a space where the act of witnessing is more than simply observing voice. The intended …

What’S The Word On The Street?: Witnessing/Performing Theory, Desirée D. Rowe

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Scavenger Hunts & Photo Essays: Helping Students See Inequality In The World Around Them Through Project-Based Learning, Emily Cabaniss, Kylie Parrotta

Feminist Pedagogy

This paper outlines two scavenger hunt project-based learning approaches we have used with our students to help them see gender inequality around them and to think sociologically about it. The first assignment asks students to dig deeply into one-gender related issue or inequality that interests them in their immediate surroundings and to create a photo essay that says something about the nature, experience, consequences of, or reaction to that issue or inequality. The second assignment asks students to look broadly at the culture around them and to identify everyday examples of gender inequality by participating in a gender scavenger hunt. …

Documentary Review: Broken Trust- Ending Athlete Abuse, Caitlin Williams

Feminist Pedagogy

This media review summarizes and provides general implications about the documentary, Broken Trust: Ending Athlete Abuse, in the feminist classroom. This review uses film examples to argue for both the documentary's accomplishments and limitations As a film that features multiple stories from a variety of athletes and coaches in different sport fields, it is not only an alternative, visual learning tool for students, but also a potential vehicle to pursue justice and sexual abuse prevention aims.

“Sometimes I Have To Announce My Feminism And I Don’T Mind Doing That”: Instructor Self-Disclosure Of Feminism In The Classroom, Elaina Ross, Kristopher D. Copeland

Feminist Pedagogy

An instructor’s self-disclosure is an important source of connectedness for students. The goal of this article was to describe how college instructors self-disclosed and discussed feminism. Qualitative interviews with 19 participants yielded findings that indicated a variety of communicative strategies utilized by instructors to self-disclose feminist beliefs, such as verbally stating one was a feminist to nonverbally communicating messages connected to course content. Further, an instructor’s feminist beliefs shaped the pedagogy implemented to discuss feminism in the classroom. Findings suggest self-disclosure of feminist beliefs were valuable in the classroom. Additionally, specific communication strategies to employ to self-disclose feminism in the …

The Medicalisation Of Gender Nonconformity Through Language: A Keywords Analysis, Angelo Cosma Galluzzo

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Language is an important part of the way gender nonconformity is legislated and medicalised. In 2012, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) changed the nomenclature of the ‘gender identity disorder’ (GID) to ‘gender dysphoria in the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to reduce the social stigma attached to transgender identities. While the recognition of gender nonconformity by the medical authorities has led to some beneficial consequences, scholars have shown that the language of pathology has narrowed the definitions of gender nonconformity and has created social stigma. I use the web pages of five major health providers of English-speaking …

Suspicion Encoded: Women Of Color And Biometric Technology In The United States, Lilith A. Saylor

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This paper explores the commodification of privacy through biometric technology in the United States. It examines the impact of this technology on poor women of color (WOC), arguing that poor WOC face intersectional discrimination based on the convergence of sex, race, and class in their identities. I highlight the unique and powerful intrusion of biometric technology into the lives of poor WOC, and argue that the connection between data and the physical body created through biometric data has formed an environment in which the state wields unrestricted control in all spheres over the privacy of poor WOC.

“Beychella:” Beyoncé’S Homecoming To A Futuristic Queer Utopian, Jolie V. Brownell

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella performance and 2019 Homecoming film set the stage for a radical Black queer reimagining. Yet, how can Beyoncé—who is straight—be located within a queer critique? In this paper, I argue that through a radical and political expansion of queer, the creative deployment of dis/identification, and the unapologetic expression of the erotic, Beyoncé performs an embodiment of queer of color critique. These creative gestures within “Beychella” invite viewers into a queer futuristic utopian and provide new creative modes to politically inhabit, resist, and reimagine interlocking systems of oppression.

Keywords: Beyoncé, queer, dis/identification, erotic, QoCC, …

The Boy In The Mirror: A Tale Of Radical Queer Muslim Liberation, Shariq I. Farooqi, Khansa Noor

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This photo-series & its connected narrative captures the ornate reality of identifying as a Queer Muslim of color. The photos were beautifully curated by a photographer and dear friend of mine, Khansa Noor. The images are meant to visually conceptualize how queerness can manifest outwardly in one's bodily expressions and demeanor. The guilt, shame, and relief that I described in the narrative translates intimately in my brown skin and my movements. Both pieces merge to illustrate the layers of queer Muslim survival in concealing one's queerness while simultaneously remaining unequivocally bold in queer spaces.