Queer Intercultural Relationality: An Autoethnography of Asian–Black (Dis)Connections in White Gay America

For this critical intercultural inquiry, I as an Asian/Japanese transnational cisgendered gay man write my autoethnography of queer (or non-heteronormative) Asian–Black (dis)connections. Specifically, I challenge, interrogate, and problematize my queer intercultural production of desire and attraction as I engage in my critical autoethnographic interrogation of dialogues with five Asian/Japanese transnational gay men who have previously engaged in queer Asian–Black relationality. In so doing, I intend to create a potential point of departure to decenter the discursive and material effects of White gay normativity in the knowledge production of Asian queer male desire and attraction.     

Discursive Constructions of the Meaning of “Family” in Online Narratives of Foster Adoptive Parents

Framed by relational dialectics theory, discursive constructions of the meaning of “family” were examined in 100 online foster adoption narratives. Parental narratives manifested struggles between biogenetic and discursive constructions of “family,” identified here as the discourse of biological normativity (DBN) and discourse of constitutive kinning (DCK). The DBN reinscribes the dominant cultural and foster care system preference for biogenetically connected families. The DCK resists the DBN, maintaining that enacted behaviors and shared affections, rather than shared genetics, constitute legitimate families. Contrapuntal analysis revealed a high degree of polemic interplay; both discourses competed to be centered rather than marginalized through the discursive practices of negating, countering, and entertaining. Implications for theorizing definitions of family and studying families in context are discussed     

Learning in Encounter and Addressing Normativity in Religious Education Faculties/Programs

Abstract

Working with normative considerations is an important part of empirical research in religious education (RE) and in the formation of practical theologians, in general, and of religious educators in RE faculties/programs, in particular. What does sufficient reflection on normativity look like in teaching religious educators? From a practical theological perspective, directions for working with normativity in RE faculties/programs are provided and discussed. These directions entail pedagogical and theological reflection on the levels of four layers of normativity: (1) discourse in religious practice, (2) the professional theory of practice, (3) the academic theory of practice, and (4) the metatheoretical foundation of observations of and research in practices. The author illustrates the argument with a discussion of the concept of learning in encounter.