The Center Cannot Hold

Censorship and Queer(ing) Literacies in the Rural South

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7166148
AutoresA Shelton (0000-0001-8270-5992), Stephanie Anne Shelton (0000-0001-5561-4331, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Education Chapel Hill North Carolina USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen60
Número3
Fecha de publicación2025-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaReading Research Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0034-0553 • E-ISSN: 1936-2722
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/rrq.70034
OpenAlexW4411826130
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas43

There are more anti‐LGBTQ+ policies and legislation affecting schools now than ever before. Within this political milieu, teachers navigate censorship, surveillance, community criticism, and curricular mandates that limit or even illegalize their efforts to foster queer‐ and trans‐affirming classrooms. This article presents a case study of Echo's efforts and experiences, as she found her curricular agency and teaching effectiveness stripped away by ever‐increasing restrictions from censorship laws and policies that disallowed ranges of topics, texts, and pedagogical practices—and the ways that she resisted. Based on a 4‐year longitudinal qualitative study, using individual interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations, this discussion focuses on “Echo,” an experienced English Language Arts high school teacher who initially felt defeated by these political restrictions and ultimately found effective counterstrategies through queer pedagogical emphasis on discomfort as a generative and empowering literacy practice

Agency (philosophy) · Censorship · Criticism · Legislation · Literacy · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Queer · Social science · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology