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New Blog: As most of you are aware, I've been thinking about how to teach LGBTQ+/Queer History for a while. The recent @RoyalHistSoc report on the subject (and the looming prospect of my talk at the @histassoc conference) got me thinking about what teachers need to do it well.
One idea I considered was that, when teaching a whole sub-discipline with which they may not be familiar, teachers need fewer topic-specific resources and more materials that make sense of the field. (I drew inspiration from @KerryKitsch's excellent blog on teaching race here.)
So as an experiment, I've written a series of posts that act as a short introduction to the field, identifying key themes and outlining how they might be navigated within the classroom. The first gives a brief overview of the discipline and its history. https://freshalarums.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/queer-history-a-teachers-primer-part-1-the-shape-of-the-discipline/
The second post explores the first of the key themes that emerge from the discipline and which I think would affect how you'd approach the subject in the classroom: sex, gender and sexuality as historically constructed concepts which are subject to change. https://freshalarums.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/queer-history-a-teachers-primer-part-2-sex-gender-and-sexuality-as-historical-categories/
The third post explores the second of the key themes that emerge from the discipline and which could affect classroom practice: balancing avoiding anachronisms and discussing the subject with clarity and the role played in this by terminology. https://freshalarums.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/queer-history-a-teachers-primer-theme-2-terminology/
And the fourth post explores the final theme, which is the specific evidence base used in queer history and some of the opportunities it affords us in the classroom. https://freshalarums.wordpress.com/2020/10/24/queer-history-a-teachers-primer-part-4-methods-and-evidence/
I hope this is helpful, many organisations have done brilliant work in promoting queer history in schools ( @LGBTedUK @LGBTHM @stonewalluk to name just a few) I think there's a huge opportunity to use the expertise of the #historyteacher community to explore how to teach it well.
I'd also like to add my fervent thanks to @echomikeromeo for responding to my questions on some aspects of these posts, it was very reassuring to have someone with expertise in the topic clarify some key points for me.
