On the balance of “queer theory” in education: silences, tensions and challenges

Abstract

Based on empirical evidences of academic theoretical production on queer theory in the discipline of education in the last fifteen years, this article explores how the understanding of queer theory projects hope on the political status of education and its role in negotiating ambivalent research objects. The incorporation of “queer theory” in education helped territorialize its action spectrum as a synonym for research on gender and sexuality, allowing these themes to enter the field. Conversely, the update of categories such as “knowledge” and “teaching” has made the experiment of “queer theory” refractory to normative education initiatives. Despite the idea that social markers are open and problematized in education, it is as if there was only one possible identity for education.