Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

accountability in Queer time

ccassidy's picture

I thought the idea of accountability in the context of queer time was really interesting.  There seemed to be a debate in class about whether or not a person would have to be more or less accountable for themselves if they subscribed to the idea of queer time.  During our small group discussions on Thursday, my group touched on the topic of queer time in an educational space.  It seemed difficult to wrap our minds around the idea of having the personal agency to decide when or if you would attend a class let alone decide when you have completed a course, when you have reached your full potential in a subject.  In Anne Dalke and Clare Mullaney's essay, in the passage that we analyzed in Tuesday's class, the idea of an unconventional "form of education that is less driven by the clock" (11) was presented.  In theory, this all seems like a great idea that would really help a student control the way in which they learn by taking the time to discover what truly interests them in the world of academia.  But this idea makes me start thinking about whether or not there is a certain kind of person that can effectively make use of queer time.  Queer time seems to ask for a certain amount of patience, flexibility and resistance to social constructs all at the same time.  Are we all capable of this mixing these different traits? Or is Queer time more like the way we describe Feminism, which would relate it to the individual creating their own definition?  Obviously Queer time is something that would require a long adjustment period; however, it seems as though there are certain people who might be more capable at making that kind of lifestyle transition. 

What does the class think about their ability to adapt to Queer time?