Date Thesis Awarded
5-2015
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
Africana Studies
Advisor
Anne Charity Hudley
Committee Members
Artisia Green
Joanne Braxton
Abstract
I investigate the ways in which collegiate humanities curriculum and instruction can include more literature, scholarship, and discussion around the intersection of race and sexuality. My goal is to help turn college humanities classrooms into intellectual safe spaces for GBTQ Black males. An intellectual safe space, for the focus of this thesis, is one where GBTQ Black males (and perhaps other marginalized identities as well) feel that both of their identities are equally valuable parts in the curriculum and that these dual identities (or multiple in some cases) are fully represented and affirmed in the books and articles that they read and study. In order to assess the need for an inclusive, academic space for GBTQ Black males, I present interviews with ten GBTQ Black males about their social and academic experiences at the College of William and Mary, Hampton University, or Howard University. Additionally, I include literature on the discrimination and isolation that GBTQ Black males face in various academic and social contexts because of their dual identities. The literature on inclusive pedagogy discusses how educators should privilege scholarship and instructional lenses that specifically address the experiences of GBTQ students of color. Through my interview responses and literature search, I present examples of culturally relevant/responsive literature and practices that educators can use in their curriculum and instruction to include intersected GBTQ, Black voices and figures.
Recommended Citation
Shelton, Marvin D. Jr., "Being An "Extraterrestrial:" The Need for Academic Emphasis on the Intersection of Race and Sexuality" (2015). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 186.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/186
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