In queer and present danger.

[goblin_marketer]

NEWS: GOP lawmakers: Fire college professors for 'queer theory'

I found this rather ridiculous, but also a bit alarming. I doubt that the impulse is exclusive to Georgia. I'm a grad student and writing instructor at this point, so I'm using queer theory more than teaching it, so I can't really speak to any experiences with this, though I've

Comments

[owl_of_minerva]

Tenured Radical had a good post about this on her blog.

[tx_cronopio]

I think you're ok within the academy.

Since my mother's death, I'm having to deal with all her mail, including mail from lots of places that I personally find loathesome. You won't be shocked to hear that right wing wackos like the Intercollegiate Studies Institute mine the MLA, ASA, etc for the most startling titles they can find, and queer studies are right up there, to raise money from scared older Republicans.

Having said that, I wouldn't change a thing you're doing.

[aileen8aalien]

It's interesting that this queer theory debate is rearing its head now. It is relatively accepted at most Liberal Arts institutions, but our students have steadily been becoming more and more close-minded about the things they don't know. As a result, students tend to levy strange and quite frankly, left-field complaints against professors that they think are brainwashing them or forcing an ideology on them. I've seen it happen several times at a couple of different schools that I've taught at. One was in the West, one was in the Southeast, and one in the Midwest

[lesbiassparrow]

From that link: "Calvin Hill, another State Representative, took issue with the University of Georgia's graduate program on queer theory. "Our job is to educate our people in sciences, business, math," said Hill, a vice chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee. He said professors aren't going to meet those needs "by teaching a class in queer theory."

It's pretty clear that although he says 'queer theory' he means anything which does not have a purely practical application, but he's only going after what he sees as being the most popular subject to bash.

[aileen8aalien]

Exactly. Ten years ago he would have gone after Native American Studies or Women and Gender Studies.

[rimrunner]

It's pretty clear that although he says 'queer theory' he means anything which does not have a purely practical application, but he's only going after what he sees as being the most popular subject to bash.

Yes, precisely. There was some video floating around the CNN website featuring a pearl-clutching talking head (she was wearing pearls, honest to god) going on about how SHOCKING it all was. It was so clearly intended to rile without being the actual issue that I couldn't believe anyone would fall for it.

But people will.

[ex_lost_kit]

I'm adverse to seeing academic structure become politicized, so my initial reaction to this movement is highly negative. This doesn't mean I support Angry Studies departments, just that if there's an argument against them, it damn well better be something better than simple homophobia.

As for whether the Angry Studies departments have been "accepted"... well, I imagine most of the support for that would come from members of those departments themselves, possibly some allies in the Sociology / Humanities departments, and then a smattering of left-leaning academics... which is to say, the majority, but it's also a politicized support and thus may not be "legitimate". I'm not inclined to try to draw up criteria whereby we could determine whether a given field is respectable or not, but I will say that I think it could be argued that there's a legitimate state interest in, if not supporting some departments at the expense of others, at least supporting students within some departments but not others.

[ladyshrew]

Uh, "Angry Studies"?

[biascut]

Academia shouldn't have any application to the real world! It should just study abstract stuff! And dead issues!

[ladyshrew]

I study (well, studied) dead angry studies--is that an application to the real world or just a dead issue? :-D

[roseofjuly]

Calvin Hill, another State Representative, took issue with the University of Georgia's graduate program on queer theory. "Our job is to educate our people in sciences, business, math," said Hill, a vice chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee. He said professors aren't going to meet those needs "by teaching a class in queer theory."

So the sciences, business, and math are the only things that are important now? I mean, that's the attitude that legislators and lay public have had towards academia for a while, but it's strange to actually hear them come out and say it.

News flash: where are your business leaders going to learn how to write reports? Or find the main idea in a 15-page summary of some new project they have to work on? For that matter, how are they going to learn to interact with the rest of the world who isn't regressing in terms of civil rights?

I also have my doubts that any of these people actually know what queer theory is, and that it has little to do with sexual behavior.

[lostreality]

I love how the "important" fields are also the male-dominated fields, while the female-dominated fields are the first ones cut (according to some lawmaker, who thankfully has no real say in the matter)

Did you hear they are fighting over the census now? The freakin census is political! They might actually count all the poor peoples, OH NOES!!

[biascut]

say it with me, kids: only female-dominated at the most junior levels!

(At least, that's the case in the UK and Ireland. I can point to a dozen departments which are 75:25 female:male at undergraduate level, changing to 50:50 by upper-postgraduate level, and you're lucky if it's 1:10 by professorial (very senior) status.)

Edited for rogue apostrophe!

[coendou]

Well, I'll bet they won't be cutting their schools of ed.