Murray, K. A., Trexler, C. J., & Cannon, C. E. B. (2020). Queering agricultural education research: Challenges and strategies for advancing inclusion. Journal of Agricultural Education, 61(4), 296-316. http://doi.org/10.5032/jae.2020.04296
For more than 30 years, the field of agricultural education has grappled with complex questions of
how to recruit, support, retain, and teach diverse youth. Yet the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and queer (LGBTQ) community is rarely included in published agricultural education research. This
philosophical paper addresses the immediate need for understanding more about LGBTQ youth in
agricultural education, while identifying opportunities and specific strategies to shift the culture of
agricultural education research towards inclusion. Queer theory is leveraged to reveal a nascent body
of literature related to sexuality in 4-H and school-based agricultural education. LGBTQ youth in
agricultural education face significant challenges: educators ill prepared to meet their needs, a lack of
policies to inform decision making, active homophobia from teachers and peers, among others.
Agricultural education researchers face methodological and disciplinary barriers to conducting
LGBTQ research. Authors employ unique tactics to conduct and disseminate their work. Understanding
these strategies and analyzing the conditions that necessitate their use contributes to the disciplinary
knowledge of how to conduct inclusive research – not just for LGBTQ youth – but for the profession
writ large.
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