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Challenges to LGBTI Inclusive Education and Queer Activism in Taiwan

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Queer Social Movements and Outreach Work in Schools

Part of the book series: Queer Studies and Education ((QSTED))

Abstract

Based on Foucault’s theories on discourse and power/knowledge and Fraser’s analysis of competing counterpublics, this chapter analyzes the struggle over power and knowledge between the Tongzhi (LGBTI) movement and the religious or conservative countermovement in Taiwan in gaining access to educational spaces and doing outreach work in schools. In the chapter it will be demonstrated that with unequal discursive and nondiscursive resources, the religious or conservative countermovement employs both prohibition and productive discourse formation to hinder Tongzhi education and sustain the heterosexual norm in schools. In response to the challenges, Tongzhi activists and LGBTI-friendly teachers have collaborated to defend Tongzhi education and Tongzhi students’ rights in schools, public hearings, and various committees at the local and central government level. In struggles over power and knowledge in a democratic society, it will be suggested that a careful reflection on the meaning of freedom of speech and democracy is necessary. It is proposed that a better post-structural understanding of gender and sexuality will enable the discursive change in the revision of laws to extend to the everyday world and allow for the practices of Tongzhi education in schools.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Gender Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Chia-Ling Yang

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  1. Chia-Ling Yang
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Correspondence to Chia-Ling Yang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, Western Cape, South Africa

    Dennis A. Francis

  2. University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Jón Ingvar Kjaran

  3. Gender Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Jukka Lehtonen

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Yang, CL. (2020). Challenges to LGBTI Inclusive Education and Queer Activism in Taiwan. In: Francis, D., Kjaran, J., Lehtonen, J. (eds) Queer Social Movements and Outreach Work in Schools. Queer Studies and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41610-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41610-2_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-41609-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-41610-2

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