Becoming Aware (of self and others) Through Queer Curriculum Development

Performing autoethnographic explorations as curriculum development strategies, and using autoethnographic modes (e.g., storytelling) as curriculum, may provide queer multicultural social justice education curriculum workers, and explorers, with opportunities to explore their own multicultural identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, exceptionality, religion, sexual orientation, and gender), how their identities may intersect with curriculum development, and their stories alongside those of others. In Part One, I tell three (hi)stories highlighting how multicultural education, queer theory, and autoethnography support the practice of identity awareness (of self and others). In Part Two, I share nine explorations developed for this project, along with my performances and reflections of each exploration, which include how performing the explorations impacted their development. Finally, in Part Three, I apply these ideas to my practice of becoming a queer educator. I reflect on some of the tensions I wrestled with, on being aware of myself as a teacher and a student simultaneously, and on my use of language and curriculum development practices. In sum, I advocate for queering autoethnography and using it for curriculum development—thus, simultaneously queering the act of curriculum development—for the purposes of developing identity awareness (of self and others) and of honing queer multicultural social justice education curriculum development practices. During your engagement with this text, I invite the reader to reflect on these practices, perform the explorations, and ponder how these explorations may impact your curriculum development practices. I also encourage you to share your stories.