English, Theatre, and Foreign Languages

To investigate the determinants of self-rated health in Brazil and the influence of healthy lifestyles. Methods: We used data from the National Health Survey (PNS), 2013. The self-rated health was categorized as very good/good, fair, and poor/very poor. Differences in the distribution of self-rated health according to the age group and sex were tested. Logistic regression models were used to test the effects of educational level, race/skin color, and the presence of at least one noncommunicable chronic disease on poor/very poor health perception. In addition, the influence of healthy behaviors was tested controlling for the effects of sociodemographic factors and the presence of at least one chronic disease. Results: We analyzed 60,202 individuals; about 66.1% rated their health as very good/good and 5.9% as poor/very poor; about 47.1% reported the diagnosis of at least one noncommunicable chronic disease; and only 9.3% reported a "healthy lifestyle" (do not use tobacco products, consume fruits and vegetables properly, and do physical activity during leisure time). Among the sociodemographic factors, age, sex, educational level, and race were significantly associated with self-rated health and the presence of at least one chronic disease. The effects of all healthy behaviors were statistically significant even after controlling for the other determinants. Conclusion: Although the adoption of healthy lifestyles in Brazil is still insufficient, the association of healthy practices with selfperception of health found in this study is an indication that the Brazilian population is beginning to relate healthy behaviors to their well-being and better health evaluation.

In this commentary, the authors discuss how gender inequality becomes manifest in deeper sociopolitical issues of proper schooling and proper education. They also show how regulation is far from recognition, as policing others' identity and purpose exposes a whole other layer of intentionality.

Though trans* people represent only 0.3% of the total US population, they receive much attention in the media and in public and scholarly discourse. The popularity of the critically acclaimed Amazon series Transparent confirms that trans* experiences are integral to the lives of the cisgender population. Transparent problematizes sociological and historical constructs of gender and sexuality. It depicts the intimate life of a transwoman, Maura, and her family as they try to manage their relationships in the midst of their own burgeoning gender and sexual fluidity. Transparent also offers a specific opportunity to open conversations about trans* experiences. Its themes undermine notions of a gender binary, and its popularity suggests that the show offers significant potential for engendering public conversation and education about trans* identities. Given the difficulties that trans* students face and how popular Transparent is, we are compelled to wonder how schools—and in particular, secondary schools—can capitalize on the popularity of the show to inform adolescents about being trans* and potentially help reduce some of the physical and verbal assaults trans* people suffer. The research question that guides this paper thus is, How can English Language Arts (ELA) teachers use the popularity and pedagogy of Transparent to educate adolescents about trans* experiences? In order to address this question, we create classroom lessons that are grounded in methods of teaching English (Burke, 2012; Milner, Milner, & Mitchell, 2012), incorporate scenes from the television show, and align with ninth-and tenth-grade Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in ELA 1. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate how ELA curriculum can use scenes from Transparent to inform adolescents about the experiences of being trans*.

Amidst today’s political climate, it becomes increasingly critical to encourage and maintain trans*  equity practices of affirmation and recognition. While providing opportunities for hope and empathy, this paper situates ethnodrama within gender theory to stage the lived experience of one female-to-male (FTM) trans* high school student. Distilled from a corpus of ethnographic interviews, this performance captures the student’s school experiences,  and exchanges with his parents. Given theatre possesses the potential to create empathy and affect social change, this ethnodrama attempts a novel embodiment of the layered complexities of trans* inclusion to foster pedagogies of recognition and gender equity. In this way, this performative text contributes to the burgeoning and important field of gender studies in education.

This paper performs a case study of the hit television series, Transparent, and considers the public pedagogy the show produces. In order to do this, it conducts a discourse analysis of two scenes that take place during the show's first season. We conducted interviews with six members of the show's creative team who identified these two scenes as germane to the pedagogical aspirations of the show, and they comprise the focus of the paper. Accordingly, the authors analyze both the scenes and excerpts from the interview transcripts to critically examine the ways in which the television show may teach its audience about gender, sexual fluidity and trans à subjectivities. The piece concludes with implications for how the show furthers the public Discourse regarding nonbinary, trans à , and gender creative individuals.

In his interview, "Friendship as a Way of Life," Foucault notes that "The development toward which the problem of homosexuality tends is one of friendship" (1997, p. 136). This statement questions suppositions that link homosexual intimacy with the act of sex, for Foucault advocates for the importance of friendship and emotional intimacy between homosexual men. He says, "To want guys [garcons] was to want relations with guys" (p. 136). Although sexual desire may be implied as an integral feature of "relations," Foucault stresses intimacy between men that is "much more than the sexual act itself" (p. 136). This chapter puts Foucault's thoughts about friendship between homosexual men into conversation with recent scholarship in masculinities theory to see what can be learned about homo-social male love and intimacy. Much recent scholarly literature in masculinities highlights a need for emotional intimacy among men yet instances of this intimacy are continually policed by heterosexism and homophobia (Buitenbos 2012; Connell 2005; Kimmel 2008). Moreover, Foucault speaks to the close emotional attachment that soldiers require to endure war, but as he says, the army is a space "where love between men is ceaselessly provoked [appele] and shamed" (1997, p. 137). This chapter borrows Foucault's assertion that institutions provoke and shame homo-social male love to examine the ways that schools regulate intimacy between boys in spite of contemporary theories of masculinities that correlate a healthy gender identity with same-sex emotional intimacy.

The authors explore different wonderings to illustrate some possible ways in which postqualitative inquiry and scholarship is becoming and shaping the lives of scholars. To do this, we draw from previous work in arts-influenced inquiry and make connections with arts-based research and “research-creation” to explore how researchers can generate possibilities and becoming through the process of creating art in a purposefully relational manner. In these creations, our becomings intersect with shadow-philosophy, each other, and event happenings we conducted with postqualitative researchers.Rather than conceptually discussing various forms of postqualitative inquiry, we attempt to practice it. In this way, we use arts-inspired research to explore intersections between research and creation. These types of relational encounters produce thinking and materials which belong to life, senses, and affect, and could have a (scholarly) life of their own.