Scholarly Works, Center for Rural Education
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- Everywhere and Nowhere…All at Once: Exploring the Role of Visibility in Rural Queer NarrativesWhitten, Clint (East Carolina University, 2023-06-19)Following the tragedy of another shooting that happened in a visibly Queer space, this study explores how Queerness in rural spaces generates a spectrum of visibility. Men in Place (2019) by Miriam Abelson and Out in the Country: Youth Media and Queer Visibility in Rural America (2009) by Mary Gray, personal narratives/podcasts cultivated by Country Queers, and “place histories” such as Brandon Teena and Matthew Shepard which were highly visible cases of rural Queer overkill, are used as objects of study to explore the role and function of visibility in rural contexts. After exploring these rural Queer-centric narratives, I generated three thematic categories: working to preserve Queer comfort in rural spaces, identity work of rural Queerness, and fears and spaces of violence. I conclude by using the three categories to offer three implications for educational practices to complicate our understanding of Queer visibility in rural schools.
- "It's the Commonwealth’s attempt to censor . . . what we teach”: Anti-LGBTQIA2S+ educational policy influences on rural secondary ELA teacher practicesThompson, Josh; Whitten, Clint; Kaerwer, Karin (2024-03-01)The shift in political landscape in Virginia from former Democratic Governor Ralph Northam to current Republican Governor Glen Youngkin influenced educational policies in the commonwealth. Waving the banner of parental rights, the Youngkin administration began targeting LGBTQIA2S+ students and educators through legislation and policies such as SB 656 and Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools. To understand the influence on rural school districts, this study asked how rural secondary English Language Arts educators understand and respond to these anti-LGBTQIA2S+ policies as well as the ways in which those educators feel that those policies influence the climate of their classrooms. Using a qualitative questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, we sought input from secondary English Language Arts teachers in one entirely rural region of Virginia. This study produced four findings: differing understandings and implementation of policies, curricular control, effects on student-teacher relationships, and humanizing practices. We provide a call-to-action and recommendations for classroom educators.
- Queerness in Rural Schools: A Literature Review Exploring the Intersection of Rurality and Queerness in K–12 SchoolsWhitten, Clint (Penn State University, 2025-03-28)Given recent anti-Queer legislation across the United States and the 16-year gap since Gray’s Out in the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America, this literature review describes the intersections of Queerness and rurality in K–12 educational spaces. Hallinger’s process for review provides a framework to analyze the selected articles. Based on the search criteria, nine peer-reviewed, empirical journal articles published between 2012 and 2022 were selected. These articles were analyzed for rural Queer salience and how they discuss the intersection of Queerness and rural education. From the analysis, three themes emerged related to victimization and safety, teacher and administrator attitudes, and school-provided Queer resources. This review concludes with a discussion and implications for change section that educators and researchers may use to further investigate the intersections of rural education and Queer identities.
- Unearthing rural roots: A reflective exploration of queering placeWhitten, Clint; Brimmer, Casey Anne; Azano, Amy Price (Penn State University, 2025-12-09)This creative/arts-based piece includes poetic voices from the editors of “Rural Education and Queer Identities: Rural and (Out)Rooted” alongside visual art representations from the Queer artist who provided the cover art for the volume. As contributors, Cook and Cain use reflexive poetry as a methodological exercise to engage with themes of insider/outsider perspectives in their research with LGBTQ+ participants. As editors of the volume, we found ourselves citing this practice as a rural Queer methodology to explore the tensions that arose for us as academics and educators while curating the collection. This piece explores three spaces inspired by Pennell’s chapter on being Queer across time and space in three rural settings. First, we explore rural taproots, two-steppin’ between our Queerness and temporal memories of being closeted youth. Second, we consider root systems as we two-step between our roles as educators and, as Thompson said, “agents of affirmation.” Third, we display aerial roots as we symbolically visit home as out rural scholars to unpack those early lessons. The accompanying artwork serves as further reflection into this arts-based inquiry. We conclude by providing two suggestions for future rural pedagogical practice and scholarship.