“It was a hot topic at the time,’ he says, ‘and there was a lot of controversy surrounding anything considered outside the norm in Florida.”
What is Queer Theory?
“I consider Queer Theory to be the fourth rendition of the main critical theories. So, you have Marxism, Feminism and Colonialism and then Foucault and Warner launched Queer Theory. This was based around human sexuality and how the state monitors and regulates our behaviour using for example cameras, and architecture to steer us mostly away from things.”
More recently there’s been an argument to call it ‘outlaw theory’? The reason for this is that we normally study the curve in the centre of statistics, the ‘normal’ things so to speak. The ‘outliers’ are those on the fringes of what’s considered normal, on the edges, the queer. Or that which gets your attention. Statistics push it to the edges therefore that is where queer theory places itself. It’s looking at the edges a bit more”.
Content of the course
At the start of the course, Jon presents the students with some foundation texts in which the early theorists begin questioning the ‘normal’ and discussing why people should look at the edges and the margins more. It evolves from there to look at other aspects.
“When the course became a VE, it added a whole new dimension. I threw all the texts at the students and gave them the all-important relevant contexts and their philosophers. In this way, we gave them an overview. After that, we took a step back and began leaving it more to the students to decide how to discuss and explore this topic. They went into some unique and different directions that I didn’t expect.
“Despite me and my co-teachers giving them a plan, we ended up focusing the discussion and work based around where their minds were taking them.”
Student concerns during the Virtual Exchange
Jon explains how the students were really concerned about their safety when taking the course. In 2013, it took place on campus in the normal way. Florida university was very accommodating and allowed the course to go ahead. This despite it being located in a very conservative state.
Jon explains, “The university somehow survives in a bubble and so they ended up very supportive despite the environment. The course proved popular over the years and was always full.
“At one point, I had to take a break from it as I found it emotionally taxing. When we brought it back, it was as a VE which added a whole new dimension to it.
The climate in the US in 2023
2023 was the height of the ‘culture wars’, and a subsequent clamp-down on such things as drag queens for example. More regulation was introduced including something called the ‘bathroom leash’. This was supposed to determine who can go to which bathroom. There was also the thorny issue of transgender people in sports.
“I feared I may not be able to teach the class given the climate at the time. With this in mind, I thought about hooking it up with an international partner in the form of a VE. I hoped this might add another more credible dimension to it.
“I reached out to a friend of mine at the University of Brasilia, where students there were also stressed out during the Bolsonaro presidency. But she told me in spite of it all, she wanted to take it on. I decided to kick start it and give it another go. It went well. And then Bergen in Norway reached out and wanted to do it too. Given its popularity, I think we will all try to create a cohesive class later in the year.”
Queer Theory and Virtual Exchange
In 2023, the world was just emerging from the pandemic. Jon says most teachers had learned to teach online therefore he wasn’t so concerned about that. Surprisingly, it was other seemingly more trivial things that put a spanner in the works.
“Timing was challenging and daylight savings meant we stuffed up. Once, we showed up and I joined a lesson and no one else was there,’ he laughs.
“More importantly, we had to watch for technological parity. There was a lot of discussion surrounding online security and the risks associated with allowing access to our platforms. These included our databases and software and hardware – by another university.
“A lot of students remained stressed about safety. We realised the importance of focusing on that. They were safe – but it was a surprising development and they felt exposed.
“Even the classroom, with its sweeping window to the outside made them feel like they were in a fishbowl. And in the wake of frequent school shootings here in the US, the students were very concerned.
Jon says they talked a lot about this and found the same concerns existed in Brazil. The students said they didn’t want to turn their cameras on.
“We had to accommodate this and I hope this will change in the future…..I allowed it as the Brazilian students were sensitive to social inequality and many didn’t even have a home computer.
“I have to say that their institution was amazing about this. They made sure the students had a computer to be able to join this class. In fact, the lab computers were sent to the student homes. From there, they popped up from time to time, but on the whole the cameras remained off. With Bergen, we did not experience this as an issue and the cameras were on.”
Virtual Exchange group work
The students were assigned into groups with both Florida and Brazil, and the next semester with Norway. Each group had to have someone from the collaborating course involved. They worked in rotation for the first few weeks. This was until they decided who they wanted to work with on the project. Then, we placed them in official groups for the collaboration.
They worked first in the time carved out during the class. We spend time discussing and answering questions, then reporting back to the whole class. This was over Zoom and occurred weekly.
As the final projects due date got closer, they exchanged contact information (Telegram or Whatsapp) and worked outside of class on their projects. By that time, they knew their foreign counterparts well enough, and had discussed their project ideas often, to self-select who they wanted to work with. Each group was mixed (although not always evenly).
Jon explains how the final task included a Queer Carnival, meant to be a festive celebration. The Norwegian city of Bergen actually holds the queer archives of Europe and so the students were encouraged to come up with something that could contribute to the archives. They had a lot of fun with that, says Jon, and some students remained in contact after the course ended and developed friendships.
“They liked the idea their work would be saved and they got creative and interacted more with each other’s perspective,” he says.
Main takeaways from the Virtual exchange
“I remember a small film showing how peoples’ bodies had been sexualised and marketed’, Jon says, referring to one group’s project. It was about the commercialisation of people and their sexuality. I thought this was bizarre as many of these aspects have surfaced during our recent election campaign. I mean it centres around when you try and embarrass someone, try to compromise people. That was insightful.”
With Bergen, the students looked at the diversity of art and created a collection for an e-zine. They did a podcast too, and they started to focus on safety and discussed how the queer community can be safe. Jon says he loves the fact it was the students voices used for the project.
He also recalls the unexpected high number of straight students who took part too, probably out of curiosity. This was something he hadn’t anticipated. When they talked about their beliefs and values, the difference between those who had experienced more trauma versus those who had not, was stark. For example, those who had been rejected by their parents or churches and those who had not experienced this.
“They ended up sharing a lot about their lives and experiences and their stories. We had a couple of transgender students too, who were going through hormone therapy and the like. They felt attacked all the time.”
Tricky VE moments
By far the favourite reading during the virtual exchange, concerned victimisation on other people. Jon says all the students enjoyed this as it generated much discussion. Another was received less well, however. Entitled: “My new vagina won’t make me happy” was written by a transgender person who has a sex change operation and is critical of it. They acknowledge this alone won’t make them happy and they will have a new set of problems, but it will make them happier.
“The students reacted badly to it and I was surprised at this. Some of them considered it inappropriate. The transgender ones especially said this is not who I am.
“So, we may not use that one again in the future iterations. We always tweak the content but we need to see about this one. We’ll keep the original base like Foucault and Warner and we may approach the other text differently.
Decolonising the curriculum
Jon acknowledges that many of the texts and voices are too American.
“We are trying to get more voices from Brazil, to understand what they are saying and thinking. And we are asking what is Scandinavia thinking and doing?
One of the main takeaways for Jon is that doing this course has thrown up how resilient these students are despite their higher stress levels. These students however have shown to be more stressed yet more resilient than other students. Some have had quite traumatic life experiences according to research data. They don’t give up! Jon is proud his class was shown to enhance the communications styles of his students with the US students learning to listen more and check themselves before speaking louder and more than their counterparts. “In general, he says, ‘they became better intercultural communicators!”
Which is what Virtual Exchange is all about.