Edward Chamberlain takes on the pressing need for mentorship for queer youth, in particular queer youth of color. Addressing a dearth in both studies on and commitment to the wellness and flourishing of queer youth of color in institutions of higher learning, Chamberlain turns to what is in some respects both a traditional and nontraditional archive of resources: personal narrative writing by queer people of color. Taking up both Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name and Roland Sintos Coloma’s “Fragmented Entries, Multiple Selves,” Chamberlain argues that the structural hybridity of these narratives serves as a formal model for a queer mentoring methodology, and delves into the texts themselves for examples of how to mentor queer youth of color in and beyond the academy.
Articles by Ed Chamberlain
Edward Chamberlain researches how artists and intellectuals represent social struggle in American, Caribbean and transnational cultural contexts. His research explains how vulnerable populations, such as LGBTQ youth, respond to the experiences of inequality and well-being in written and visual narratives. His research articles have been published in the journals English Language Notes, CLCWeb, and Otherness.