Queerly Centered: LGBTQA Writing Center Directors Navigate the Workplace

by Travis Webster

Queerly Centered explores writing center administration and queer identity, showcasing LGBTQA labor undertaken but not previously acknowledged or documented in the field’s research. Drawing from interviews with twenty queer writing center directors, Travis Webster examines the lived experiences of queer people leading writing centers, the promise and occasional peril of this work, and the disciplinary implications of such work for writing center administration, research, and praxis. Focused on directors’ queer histories, administrative activisms, and on-the-job tensions, this study connects and departs from oft-referenced lenses, such as emotional and invisible labor, for understanding work in higher education. The first book-length project that exclusively bridges writing centers and LGBTQA studies, Queerly Centered is for researchers, administrators, educators, and practitioners of all orientations and backgrounds in writing center and writing program administration, rhetoric and composition, and higher education administration.
 

157 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2021

About the author

Travis Webster was born on Earth in the late twentieth century. He writes a little of everything a lot of nothing. Critics have hailed him as "obsequious", "gregarious", and even "lamp-a-riffic". As a well-rounded man, Travis has garnered many achievements, such as the coveted "Most Improved Barbarian" award from the CROB and the prize for being "Exceptionally Supple" from an unknown foundation. Currently, he spends his free time studying doilies and their effects on reptilian sleep patterns.

Reviews

[Ciera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Webster's text is well-researched and reads quite smoothly. I appreciated the clear first-person perspective that framed the research and the findings, and Webster's structure was particularly engaging and effective, starting with historical vignettes, contextualizing those experiences/ideas within the research and interviews, and ending chapters with clear claims and statements for further thought, not just for WC professionals and admins but for WC tutors, writers, people, in general.