Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 2022

Keywords

affect, embodiment, institutional critique, LGBTQ+, queer studies

Abstract

Grounded in my embodied experiences as an openly-queer faculty member at a Texas public university and drawing from Sara Ahmed’s work on affect and institutional diversity, I argue that nondiscrimination statements at Texas public universities are affective objects which serve as straightening devices on the queer bodies that they affect, even as they purport to and often do protect them. The goals of my critique are twofold: 1) to support the work of those tasked with writing revisions to these policies by offering a few practical suggestions to allow for greater enforcement of the nondiscrimination practices that these policies espouse; and, 2) to encourage further reflection on the creation, implementation, and maintenance of these policies in light of their status as living documents which have real, material consequences for the LGBTQ+ individuals who live, learn, and work in our institutions.

Comments

Originally published as:

Dwyer, S. (2022). A question of affect: A queer reading of institutional nondiscrimination statements at Texas public universities. Peitho: Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition, 24(2). https://cfshrc.org/article/a-question-of-affect-a-queer-reading-of-institutional-nondiscrimination-statements-at-texas-public-universities/

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