Michel Foucault and Sexualities and Genders in Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Foucault, Friendship, and Education

   • David Lee Carlson, Nelson M. Rodriguez

   Pages 1-8

3. #NoHomo: Men’s Friendships, or “Something Else”

   • Frank G. Karioris, Jonathan A. Allan

   Pages 9-22

4. Intimacy and Access: Clone Culture, Exclusion, and the Politics of Friendship

   • Hilary Malatino

   Pages 23-38

5. Queer Ascesis and the Invention of New Games

   • Jonathan Kemp

   Pages 39-56

6. Transcendent Friendship: The Potential of Foucault’s Ascesis to Subvert School Gender Regimes and Facilitate Learning

   • James R. Gilligan

   Pages 57-75

7. Gender and Sexual Minority Faculty Negotiating “A Way of Life”: Friendships and Support Within the Academy

   • Sean Robinson

   Pages 77-90

8. Gay Ascesis: Ethics of Strategic Disorientation and the Pedagogies of Friendship

   • David Lee Carlson

   Pages 91-101

9. Befriending Foucault as a Way of Life

   • Adam J. Greteman, Kevin J. Burke

   Pages 103-121

10. Deep Friendship at a Sausage Party: A Foucauldian Reading of Friendship, Fractured Masculinities and Their Potential for School Practices

    • Joseph D. Sweet

    Pages 123-138

11. Michel Foucault and Queer Ascesis: Toward a Pedagogy and Politics of Subversive Friendships

    • Nelson M. Rodriguez

    Pages 139-153

12. Back Matter

    Pages 155-159

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This book examines, within the context and concerns of education, Foucault’s reflections on friendship in his 1981 interview “Friendship as a Way of Life.” In the interview, Foucault advances the notion of a homosexual ascesis based on experimental friendships, proposing that homosexuality can provide the conditions for inventing new relational forms that can engender a homosexual culture and ethics, “a way of life,” not resembling institutionalized codes for relating. The contributors to this volume draw from Foucault’s reflections on ascesis and friendship in order to consider a range of topics and issues related to critical studies of sexualities and genders in education. Collectively, the chapters open a dialogue for researchers, scholars, and educators interested in exploring the importance and relevance of Foucault’s reflections on friendship for studies of schooling and education.

• Foucault
• Queer Studies
• Ascesis
• Gai Pied
• #NoHomo
• Masculinities
• School Gender Regimes
• Curriculum
• gender and sexuality

“For researchers, the collection provides insightful theoretical backing for research on school and university cultures in which ascesis presents or absents itself. Further, the essays thoughtfully consider the ways in which ascesis as friendship may disrupt existing heteronormative dynamics or potentially reenact exclusionary practices.” (Christian G.Gregory, Journal of LGBT Youth, August 31, 2021) “It is always a joy to read engaged texts that do the hard work of linking complex philosophical exploration with the contexts of our contemporary time. This volume does just that and, importantly, employs close reading as a means to link Foucault's notion of ascesis with the critical study of education. Carlson and Rodriguez have brought together an impressive collection of insightful, challenging, and provocative chapters authored by scholars who do not shy away from political confrontation and philosophical experimentation. This is powerful work.” (Aaron M. Kuntz, Professor of Educational Studies, University of Alabama, USA)

“With their exploration of Foucault's "Friendship as a Way of Life," it is refreshing to see renewed focus on the relational—so often the domain of feminist theorizing in education—emerge in queer studies. For educators, this volume's focus is especially important: the relational aspects of learning discussed here stand in stark contrast to contemporary accountability schemes designed to hyper-individuate and isolate learners. Further, in a social context where friendship networks are among the most racially and gender-segregated social institutions, such queer expansions of friendship, as theorized here, will hopefully help shatter such exclusionary practices.” (Cris Mayo, Director of LGBTQ+ Center and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, West Virginia University, USA)

“Carlson and Rodriguez problematize in an unconventional way all the conventions, and create an important new rigorous reading of less used Foucault’s work, Friendship as Ascesis. The result is a deeply original and highly provocative collection edited by experts on Foucault and education. As editors, they guide the team of gifted thinkers to challenge norms and to create a fascinating and deeply engaging journey through alternative ways of looking at and thinking with genders and sexualities in Education practices, theories, and schooling.” (Marek Tesar, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of International Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, New Zealand)

“Carlson and Rodriguez have provoked a compelling collection of essays exploring what Foucault’s conceptualization of friendship, which is about the collaboration and negotiation of relationship construction, might offer educators. Central to this concept is Foucault’s notion of ascesis, or the work one does to invent one’s self. Together, the scholars in this volume offer the possibility of transformation through teachers and students coming together and being in relation to one another, as visitors and as friends, while engaging in pedagogy, subversion, and strategic disorientation. Thus, the collection invites educators into “friendship[s] as ascesis” as a way of queering schools.” (Mollie Blackburn, Professor of Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University, USA)

• Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

  David Lee Carlson

• Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The College of New Jersey, EWING, USA

  Nelson M. Rodriguez

David Lee Carlson is Associate Professor of Qualitative Research in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University, USA. His current research focuses on the ways in which the post-qualitative movement continues to problematize the onto-epistemology of research methodologies.

Nelson M. Rodriguez is Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at The College of New Jersey, USA. His current research areas span queer studies and education, critical masculinity studies, and Foucault studies.

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