A Queer Chaos of Meanings: Coming Out Conundrums in Globalised Classrooms

ABSTRACT Education research on sexual identity issues has increasingly engaged with poststructuralist and queer theories of identity. The focus has shifted toward conceptualising sexual identities as “acts” rather than facts, and problematising all sexual identities rather than liberating oppressed ones. However, in the growing literature on the complexities associated with “coming out,” little attention has been given to these matters in classrooms with student cohorts that are international, transcultural, and multilingual. This article considers puzzling conundrums associated with teachers coming out (or not) in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for adult immigrants, refugees, and international students residing in the United States. Drawing on interview transcripts, the author looks at (apparent) disjunctures of meaning between how three ESL teachers decided to represent their sexual identities in class and how five of their students interpreted these choices. The author explores this “queer chaos of meanings” with a view to illuminating key tensions associated with negotiating sexual identifications (and dis-identifications) in globalised classrooms. A case is made for thinking not only queerly but also transculturally about sexual identity issues in education.