engleski

No ordinary love: exploring intimacy, parenting, activism and resistance from a gay family's perspective

This paper is part of the authors' ongoing research on LGBTIQ parenting in Croatia. Using a qualitative methodology approach, we aim at gaining an empirical insight and deeper understanding of the way(s) families whose existance is challenged in many specific ways give meaning to their experiences, position themselves in the society and develop strategies of comradeship and resistance in their everyday persuit of happiness and justice. A case study of a gay family with a school age daughter is presented through analysis of a semi-structured interiew including three sets of research questions. The first set of questions will address LGBTIQ parenting narratives of the family with special emphasis on everyday family dynamics, relations between different family members, child-rearing practices, parental values and differences in the positioning of the parental authority with regard to presence/absence of biological ties to the child. In exploring these narratives we will employ the intersectional framework in order to avoid reducing their parental identity to their sexual identity and to observe their parental identity in its interconnectedness with other identity dimensions (class, nationality, religion, age, etc.) and sites of oppression. The second set of questions will explore the included familiy's relations with significant others and the broader social context, especially in terms of perceived emotional, financial and child-care support. The third set of questions will address different parental identity negotiating techniques in relation to 37 educational institutions and the experienced level of support among teachers, school leadership and parents. Additional (meta)question which authors are trying to address concerns the position of a contemporary researcher and academic community as a whole. Generating the meaning of our work through its’ social justice orientedness and transformative impact it might have in the society, we are exploring the possibilities of establishing a dialogue between ‘theory and practice’ and opening ‘the ivory tower’ to community. This inquiry includes a mindful self-examination in search for biases, prejudice and privilege, as well as an ongoing analysis and struggle against dominance, discrimination and all forms of injustice in the society.

LGBTIQ parenting, multiple identities, critical pedagogical perspective, social justice, intercultural education

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