Negotiating queer and religious identities in higher education: queering 'Progression' in the 'University Experience'

Emily Falconer, Yvette Taylor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)
66 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper addresses the negotiation of ‘queer religious’ student identities in UK Higher Education. The ‘university experience’ has generally been characterised as a period of intense transformation and self-exploration, with complex and overlapping personal and social influences significantly shaping educational spaces, subjects and subjectivities. Engaging with ideas about progressive tolerance and becoming, often contrasted against ‘backwards’ religious-homophobia as a sentiment/space/subject ‘outside’ of education (Rasmussen, 2010), this paper follows the experiences and expectations of queer Christian students . In asking if notions of ‘queering higher education’ (Renn, 2010; Case et al., 2012; Rumens, 2014, Taylor, 2013a) ‘fit’ with queer identifying religious youth, it explores how educational experiences are narrated and made sense of as ‘progressive’. Educational transitions allow (some) sexual-religious subjects to negotiate identities more freely, albeit with ongoing constraints. Yet perceptions of what, where and who, is deemed ‘progressive’ and ‘backwards’ with regard to sexuality and religion need to be met with caution, where the ‘university experience’ can shape and shake sexual-religious identity.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)782-797
Number of pages16
JournalBritish Journal of Sociology of Education
Volume38
Issue number6
Early online date16 Jun 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2017

Keywords

  • sexuality
  • religion
  • education
  • queer youth
  • transitions
  • diversity

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