Organizational Communication Meets Queer Theory: Theorizing Relations of “Difference” Differently

Abstract

In this essay, I show how further engagement with queer theory can contribute to organizational communication theorizing about difference. After reviewing the theoretical roots of difference and intersectionality research in organizational communication, I draw from queer theory to articulate three guiding principles for queer difference research: (a) emphasizing the notion of normativity; (b) adopting an anticategorical approach to difference, intersectionality, and normativity; and (c) advocating a politics that challenges normativity. I conclude by discussing both the relevance and potential of queer theory for all communication theorists and suggest that further engagement with queer theory is consistent with putting communication at the center of explanations to social reality.Since the emergence of feminist organizational communication research in the 1990s, organizational communication scholars have been theorizing gender relations at work

Disidentifications Revisited: Queer(y)ing Intercultural Communication Theory

“…By understanding complex and contradictory practices of belonging experienced by queer (of color) transnational migrants through a theory of disidentifications, intercultural communication theorists will explore previously hidden insights about the connections among identities, politics, globalization, and migration. In recent years, there has been a push toward queer(y)ing the circumference of theory building in interpersonal/family communication (Chevrette, ) and organizational communication (McDonald, ). To join this intellectual and political movement, we suggest that a theory of disidentifications offers intercultural communication scholars ways to look at, critique, and shift embodied performances of minoritarian identities and subjectivities that reveal nuanced forms of neither assimilation nor resistance.…”

Occupational Segregation Research: Queering the Conversation

“…Of course, there are other theoretical frameworks that are compatible with several of the above assumptions. For instance, a postmodern take on occupational segregation research would also deconstruct and critique the binary categories upon which extant research is based (McDonald, 2015). However, what is particularly powerful about the queer framework that I have outlined in this paper is its strong critique of binary categories, combined with its unapologetic, anti-assimilationist politics that interrogates taken-for-granted assumptions and embraces non-normative expressions of identity.…”

“…For instance, a postmodern take on occupational segregation research would also deconstruct and critique the binary categories upon which extant research is based (McDonald, 2015). For instance, a postmodern take on occupational segregation research would also deconstruct and critique the binary categories upon which extant research is based (McDonald, 2015).…”

Queerly Unequal: LGBT+ Students and Mentoring in Higher Education

“…In order to expand on the codes found within the data exploration into themes and patterns took place through memo writing, which allowed me to identify patterns in queer students' mentoring relationships, social support, and prosocial behavior. This project applies the lens of queer theory, a critical framework where both data collection and analysis are done in an anticategorical manner, focusing on the lived experiences of the respondents and their perceptions of the social world (Brim and Ghaziani 2016;Browne and Nash 2016;McDonald 2015;Valocchi 2005). This project explores how the process of mentorship is influenced by being a member of the queer community.…”