Queering Methodologies to Understand Queer Families

• Date: 01 February 2018
• Published date: 01 February 2018
• Author: Jessica N. Fish,Stephen T. Russell
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12297

J N. F  S T. R University of Texas at Austin

Queering Methodologies to Understand Queer

Families

Queering questions that which is normative.

In this article, we discuss how, for the study of

queer families, queering methodologies could

reclaim traditional research methods that reect

historically dominant or privileged paradigms.

We suggest that queer perspectives may be used

to adapt mainstream (i.e., dominant, positivist,

empirical) methods, creating possibilities for

new, diverse understandings of queer families.

We start with comments on the development

and current standing of queer family research.

We then reect on several key conceptual and

methodological tensions as they apply to queer

family studies: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgen-

der, and queer individuals ↔queer families,

between-group ↔within-group, and quantita-

tive ↔qualitative. In conclusion, we discuss

how these methodological considerations

provide researchers opportunities to conduct

research not only about but for queer families.

Such research may reect the diversity of queer

families and challenge the normativities and

systems of privilege that constrain them.

In what ways might methodologies offer new

understanding and richness for the study of

queer families? Mainstream methodologies

Population Research Center, Department of Human Devel-

opment and Family Sciences, University of Texasat Austin,

305 E. 23rd, Street, Stop G1800, Austin, TX 78712

(jessica.sh@utexas.edu).

KeyWords:Families, LGBT, methodology,research methods,

queer,sexual and gender minorities.

often constrain approaches to the study of fam-

ilies (Allen, Lloyd, & Few, 2009); the concept

of queering challenges scholars to interrogate

that which is normative (M. Warner, 1999),

including their research methods (Russell,

2016). In this article, we reconsider and reimag-

ine methods and methodologies—the “theory

and analysis of how research does or should

proceed” (Harding, 1987, p. 3)—in ways that

might illuminate the full scope of possibilities

for queer individuals, families, and the structural

conditions in which they live. We conclude by

revisiting methods to address current challenges

and opportunities in the study of queer fami-

lies. Ultimately, we aim to challenge dominant

narratives in the study of families and provide

practical tools and approaches for a more critical

investigation of queer families and the diverse,

and often un(der)represented, experiences that

dene them.

Q F, N,

 I

We begin by recognizing the academic roots of

queer theory (Butler, 1990; M. Warner, 1999)

and note that our use of queer and queer families

does not presume personal identities (as les-

bian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) or

queer; Oswald, Blume, & Marks, 2005; Oswald,

Kuvalanka, Blume, & Berkowitz,2009). As both

an academic perspective and personal identity,

we acknowledge that the degree to which queer

is understood and adopted varies by social sta-

tus characteristics, including age, cohort, race,

culture, religion, gender, and social class. That

12 Family Relations 67 (February 2018): 12–25

DOI:10.1111/fare.12297