Writing to act: developing activist writing curricula for LGBTQQIA community centers

Abstract

Relying on the scholarship of Harriet Malinowitz, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Jonathan Alexander, among others, this thesis develops a theoretical framework that can inform curriculum designed for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Ally (LGBTQQIA) activist writing groups. The framework synthesizes scholarly and activist writing on queer pedagogy and community literacy and explores how this scholarship realizes some of the goals of queer activism. After a discussion of the author's positionality and chosen terminology, the thesis uses close textual readings and these theoretical syntheses to develop a new theory and stance that will guide or shape a writing curriculum that can be adapted to the needs and goals of specific LGBTQQIA writing groups. The thesis also includes interviews with two local activists, whose perspectives demonstrate the complicated and rhetorically situated nature of activist methods. Ultimately, this thesis suggests some ways that queer pedagogy can be translated into new activist potential in community-based writing groups using a sample activist curriculum.