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Document Type

Article

Abstract

New Brunswick, Canada’s K-12 Social Studies curricula erases the myriad histories and experiences of the province’s LGBTQ+ communities. Building on these erasures, this study analyzes how six queer, trans, and non-binary young people (aged 14-17) created cellphilms (cellphone + mobile film production) in response to these absences. In the study, I ask: How might engaging in media and art production with young people—and screening and exhibiting these productions in online and community spaces—work to counter dominant forms of apathy and denial, and support youth to claim a stake in creating solidarities, belonging, and community-making? What is required for youth-produced media about queer stories and spaces to create, support or extend networks of solidarity, belonging and resistance in the face of school and curricular-based exclusions?

Through a discursive analysis of the existing Social Studies curricula in New Brunswick and a close reading of a youth-produced cellphilm called, Coming Out, I explore art production as a mode of speaking back to historical erasures. I describe the ethical processes in working with youth to create media and build a web-based archive of cellphilms that capture the ways that queer spaces and stories already exist in New Brunswick, as well as speaking back to their experiences in schools and society through art production. The study found that art production with queer youth is effective in imagining alternative ways to make community and curriculum that embrace gender-inclusive youth resistance and that build critical capacity for solidarity and community-building.

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