Coming Out in College

Rating:
Summary: A Highly Informative Ethnographic Study
Review: Rhoads does a great job of helping the reader understand what it's like for a handful (i forget how many exactly) of gay and bisexual men to negotiate the culture of a university campus. The work is part of the "Critical Studies in Education and Culture" Series, and is framed within a critical postmodern perspective, which is laid out well at the outset. The voices of the men Rhoads works with are clearly present in the work, and we learn from these respondents the difficulties of finding a queer identity, particularly in a university context. Rhoads also provides specific, praxis-oriented thoughts in his final chapter, as a call to action for people on campus. One strength and weakness is the focus solely on men, most of whom are white. However, Rhoads is very intentional in explaining the dynamics of this sample and the implications for the study. Overall, this is a useful work for any professional who works with members of the GLB population (which is most likely everyone) -- particularly in higher education. Rhoads works closely with Tierney, so if you've made your way through all of his books and articles, I'd recommend Tierney's "Building Communities of Difference" for another work within the critical postmodernist school of thought and action. And if you haven't read it yet, his "Student Affairs Practitioners as Transformative Educators," written with Michael Black, is a great (if limited to a specific audience) piece.

Rating:
Summary: A Highly Informative Ethnographic Study
Review: Rhoads does a great job of helping the reader understand what it's like for a handful (i forget how many exactly) of gay and bisexual men to negotiate the culture of a university campus. The work is part of the "Critical Studies in Education and Culture" Series, and is framed within a critical postmodern perspective, which is laid out well at the outset. The voices of the men Rhoads works with are clearly present in the work, and we learn from these respondents the difficulties of finding a queer identity, particularly in a university context. Rhoads also provides specific, praxis-oriented thoughts in his final chapter, as a call to action for people on campus. One strength and weakness is the focus solely on men, most of whom are white. However, Rhoads is very intentional in explaining the dynamics of this sample and the implications for the study. Overall, this is a useful work for any professional who works with members of the GLB population (which is most likely everyone) -- particularly in higher education. Rhoads works closely with Tierney, so if you've made your way through all of his books and articles, I'd recommend Tierney's "Building Communities of Difference" for another work within the critical postmodernist school of thought and action. And if you haven't read it yet, his "Student Affairs Practitioners as Transformative Educators," written with Michael Black, is a great (if limited to a specific audience) piece.