In preparation for workshop 2, I was assigned to read chapter 1 from the book What’s the Use? by Sara Ahmed.
The times when I have attempted to engage with academic writing I have often been left feeling left out, uneducated or worse…stupid. Mainly through attempts of reading Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, who use a very academic language.
Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (Butler, J 2006) is especially dense and to me incomprehensible. And it is only thanks to the graphic novel Queer A Graphic History (Barker, MJ 2016) that I have been able to grasp what it is about.
I often think about how many of the big books around queer theory needs a guidebook in order to be fully understood, and as a teacher I strive to be more Meg-John Barker & Jules Scheele in my communication.
Ahmed’s text however, felt accessible in its use of language. It is also very subtle and rich. I appreciated the flow of engaging with the word “USE” that then illustrates metaphors around class, race, gender and ableism. (Ahmed, S 2019)
In my notes I wrote: The text tricks the reader into learning about public toilets and gender.
Maybe this is a more approachable way in teaching people about these concepts? I have an impulse to ask someone that doesn’t know about queerness to read it and tell me what they learnt. Her writing has also given me a new sense of curiosity around academic writing. Accessible writing does not negate intelligence and depth.
Another big takeaway from the text is the slow flow of each section, and how the real topic is being revealed to the reader with a clear intention. It makes me think about the tempo of which I use to present theory and practice to students in workshops and how this can be improved. I also use a lot of queer artists as references when teaching, and I think I need to provide more context so that students are eased into understanding the context of these references.
Bibliography:
Ahmed, S 2019, What’s the Use? : On the Uses of Use, Duke University Press, Durham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 February 2025].
Butler, J 2006, Gender Trouble : Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Taylor & Francis Group, Oxford. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 February 2025].
Barker, MJ 2016, Queer: a Graphic History, Icon Books, Limited, London. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 February 2025].