As I read through Prof. Brim’s book, I realize that queer studies are interconnected with different social factors such as class, woman, race, and poverty. Although queer studies are a somewhat unfamiliar subject to me, I could see a little glimpse of how queer studies are happening in the U.S. and a vivid description of Brim’s class’s authentic atmosphere. One of the fun parts of the book is that some young women students’ chief goal is not to graduate as quickly as possible so that they can forestall marriage or resist increased pressure to marry. On the other hand, one of the heartbreaking parts is about a queer homeless student holding back tears, “this is the first time they’ve kicked me out for good.” Although I could not fully understand the student and Poor Queer Studies Mothers’ difficult situations, it is nice to hear that queer studies could be used as an educational ladder for students’ social mobility. And it is also touching story that when a mother brought her child to one of the queer studies’ classes, every student there treated her child so considerably, and that experience led the students involved in the class to a deep level of understanding of queer words.  Additionally, it is interesting to know that continuing to live at a parent’s home while commuting to college is considered an overwhelmingly low-income and working-class experience in the U.S. (If what I understood from the text is correct). In Korea, students prefer commuting to colleges from their homes, and there is no such bias. This point makes me think that colleges should be considerate of not only for their students’ studies or grades but also of their socioeconomic status, which is the most significant determinant for their likelihood to graduate. Colleges should try to create as many part-time job opportunities on campus as possible for low-income students and provide them with a long period of study years so that many working students can finish their studies successfully while managing their lives properly.

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Pedagogy roundup: This is one of the ideas that came to mind as I took this higher-edu class. As an international student, sometimes I felt like “I do not know what this means” in the class. I think it might be due to language or cultural barriers, or it might be because I’m learning new academical terminologies (I’m not saying this negatively. I am enjoying taking this class. Please don’t get me wrong😊). I am still learning English, which I love to learn, and I’m also experiencing new cultures in NYC as a student who studies in a different cultural context.

Just as someone brought up some of the immigrant student issues in the class, I think my new cultural experience as an international student connect not only to other international students but also to many immigrants who are still coming to the U.S. This point leads me to question, “are American students (especially American-born students) ready enough to accept various immigrant students to their classes and their college lives? Are U.S. colleges well prepared to receive immigrant students as their actual members?”

To answer these questions, I think about pedagogy related to “understanding other cultures by experiencing those cultures.” As we talked a lot about “inclusivity” in the class, being aware of other people’s cultures from other countries or regions is important to becoming inclusive, and and should not be considered a trivial matter. Creating opportunities to understand and experience other cultures in class will allow American students to be knowledgeable about how they should interact with culturally different students. And creating opportunities to understand other cultures also would help American-born students have more open-minded attitudes toward immigrant students. Furthermore, this approach may contribute to making the U.S. society more inclusive to each other despite of racial, ethnic, and gender differences. So, I suggest this pedagogy:

-At the beginning of the college semester, every student in class presents about “introducing his/her ethnic or country cultures” in front of other students so that all students can recognize that they have been grown up in different cultures and family backgrounds.   

-During the presentation, immigrant or international students can use their native language sometimes to give American students opportunities to experience how a study using other languages is different from a study in their mother tongues. This experience can be called “becoming an exchange student abroad.”

-Second, third or higher generation immigrant students also should introduce their parent’s previous country’s cultures. By doing so, they could learn not to forget their original national identities.

-Students can share exotic foods of different countries and wear their home or parent’s home-country’s traditional dresses during the class with explanations about when they wear those dresses.

The field of queer studies is not excluded in classism; it overlooks scholars who have attended graduate or undergraduate schools that are not in the few top programs. Only those attached to the field’s prominent and privileged thinkers can be seen. It is sad to think that most women and queer scholars of color will not “write their way out of anywhere.” Most poor queer studies students will not leave an impact on the discipline like students in rich queer studies at elite institutions. However, it may be ‘poor queer studies’ that do more to translate and apply these transformative ideas into the real world, since it is the poor working-class students that go onto the non-academic workforce and community. They teach beyond the classroom, bringing queer studies to their coworkers, their family and friends. Mothers in queer studies want to bring the knowledge they learned in the classroom to their children and family. They are doing queer pedagogy in their own roles in life.

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I wonder how the shift to distance learning through zoom, has affected these students., now that there is a lack of distance between the student and their home/family.

Reading Matt’s book reminded me of this very brief autobiographical essay by Rod Ferguson called Sissies at the Picnic (sorry for the format, I couldn’t find an electronic version other than photos on a friend’s Facebook page). In this essay Rod is thinking about rural Georgia as a Black queer space in ways that resonate with Matt’s understanding of CSI as a queer college. Also, I think this essay speaks to the question of motherhood in interesting ways. With this essay in mind, I would ask whether Rod is engaged in a practice of poor queer studies from within Yale University, among the most elite institutions of higher education in the world? Here I am thinking with Matt’s argument that “we are of our institutions” and Moten and Harney’s call to be “in but not of” the university. Is it possible to be in Yale but not of it, or to be of both Manchester, Georgia and Yale University—perhaps creating a sense of double consciousness?

For week 8, please read:

• Matt Brim, Poor Queer Studies (Intro, ch4; optional reading: ch2)
• Roderick Ferguson, The Reorder of Things (ch3)

You might consider the following questions:

1. How does Ferguson understand the administration of “yes” as a new form of racist power exercised in higher education in response to new forms of “no,” including the student resistance movements at CUNY in the late 1960s?
2. How would you re-title “Poor Queer Studies” to do some different class/race work in your discipline/field? Or a bit more broadly, do you see ways of rethinking ideas in PQS based on your experience in an academic discipline, as a teacher, as a CUNY community member?
3. Reflect on the centering of ‘mothers’ in chapter 4. How does this connect with the idea of teaching beyond the classroom? How does it connect with what we’ve discussed regarding community vs individualism? I (Katina) am curious to hear what this strategy—centering mothers, specifically—brings up for you in conjunction with your own educational and life trajectories.

Related: You might take a look at the Interference Archive’s online exhibition on student organizing: https://walkout.interferencearchive.org/ — a number of CUNY-related documents are included.

I held my breath for “Simon Says” Powerful!!

It made me think of how control and inferiority (elements of slavery) are perpetuated in the classroom and school structure. More so, I think about the way Black history is taught and how in many ways it reinforces the white supremacist agenda. Slavery is a prominent part of African-American history but it is not the only part and should not be where the teaching begins. Coming from the Grenada what I learned about my African ancestry was from a very different perspective. Before slavery, we learned African history and when slavery was taught the focus was on the many rebellions and uprisings that took place on the plantations. It may be seen as being dismissive but there was a focus on teaching the people that we are not just decedents of slaves. That being said, on the NYT article about who should own the photos of slaves, it definitely should not be Harvard. I view educational institutions holding on to these photos of slave the same way I view Western museums holding African artifacts – upholding white supremacy.

As I read through the articles shared in the post, some ideas of the articles impressed me and made me think about a variety of things. When it comes to white supremacy culture, even though we don’t have the term, “white supremacy,” in South Korea, I could notice that the description of white supremacy culture’s characteristics is very similar to capitalism’s one. If white supremacy was a phenomenon happening only in the US, it would be a very difficult concept for me to understand. But, for now, it is an understandable norm to me, and its antidotes are also applicable to Korean society. And I found out that those antidotes to white supremacy could be life’s principles to anyone who wants to live in a society that emphasizes inclusivity. As I read this sentence, which explains one of the antidotes, “work to recognize the contributions and skills that every person brings to the organization,” I could remind of our class, in which all students can share their experiences and knowledge related to the topics to discuss.

Regarding the need of competition in the field of education, I’ve been thinking like “too much competition is bad. But, without competition, no better results are there.” I totally agree with the idea that we should be cautious not to value competition over collaboration. Instead, it seems like collaboration’s value should be more appreciated in this highly competitive modern society. Especially regarding the field of education, when students start to receive education in unequal socioeconomic status, emphasis on competition could deteriorate the academic performances of students who are in difficult situations and hardships. However, in terms of our market system, a lot of companies compete fiercely with other companies. So, we need to make sure that students know this competitive reality that they will face in the future. In this regard, competition value also shouldn’t be neglected.

Knowledge is never objective. It comes from a viewpoint or different perspectives. Objectivity is seen in our culture as neutral or impartial. But that understanding of objectivity comes from a specific perspective (white, male, heterosexual). All other positions are made invalid and subjective, denying voice and subjectivity.

Readings were used to construct a visualization of textual commonalities across articles: