Congratulations to EDST PhD student Daniel Gallardo for successfully receiving the Public Humanities Hub Graduate and Postdoctoral Research Grant for their proposed study entitled “Dragging education to imagine otherwise: cultivating decolonial learning environments for Indigenous queer belonging”.
Abstract of Daniel Gallardo’s proposed study:
My doctoral research contributes to the emerging field of Indigenous-informed sexual orientation and gender identity scholarship as it proposes to interrogate heteropatriarchal and colonial assumptions of gender binaries performed within the normative culture and context of education in Mexico. It involves examining the ideological leverage of settler-colonialism and its impacts on race, sexuality and gender in education. The purpose of this research is to engage with educators and community leaders who partake in the art of drag to create brave spaces for the exploration of identity among 2S/LGBTQ+ youth in Mexico. The research described begins with the question, how can the art of drag inside educational spaces cultivate a sense of belonging for 2S/LGBTQ+ youth?
The focus of my doctoral work is to support community organizations in Mexico that are creating equitable, diverse and inclusive learning environments for 2S/LGBTQ+ youth. It works to develop and facilitate programs that support educators recognize the relationships between sexual orientation, gender identity, racialization, and settler colonialism through drag pedagogy. It collaborates with these public organizations to develop, test and inform curricular practices and educational tools that positively affect the well-being of those who regularly experience gender-based violence especially 2SQT BIPOC people.