Queer conversation in straight spaces: an interview with Mary Lou Rasmussen about queer theory in higher education

Abstract

This is an interview with Mary Lou Rasmussen who is an Associate Professor, in the Faculty of Education, University of Monash, Melbourne. She is an eminent queer theorist within the field of education, with a special interest in queer subjects as they cohere around sexuality education, gender and sexualities. Her career spans 13 years in which she has written and edited three books, and five journal special issues. She has published extensively in esteemed journals on the subject of queer theory, including Sexualities, Sex Education, Discourse, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education and Gender and Education. She contributed to a special issue of the British Journal of Sociology of Education on the work of Judith Butler considering the relationship between melancholia and the politics of recognition. Here, Louisa Allen, who is the guest editor for the current special issue, ‘Queering the Academy: New directions in LGBT research in higher education’ talks with her about the place and utility of queer theory within higher education. The conversation aims to explore the edges of ‘queer’ as a concept, as well as thinking through its theoretical and empirical possibilities within the field of higher education.