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In this article, we reflect on experiences of gender euphoria and do-it-yourself (DIY) queer joy during a collage-making workshop with an intergenerational group of 2SLGBTQIA+ participants and researchers. The workshop is part of a larger participatory visual research project called Pride/Swell±an initiative that has been bringing together queer and trans people from across Atlantic Canada to make art since 2020. During an in-person workshop with 40 participants in 2023, we made collages in response to the conditions which gave rise to pleasure, euphoria, and joy. Through our artmaking, participants and the project’s research team shared that joy often emerged through queer self-expression, chosen families and communities, and by having an affirming experience. We also found collage-making acted as a resistive practice and that too became an expression of joy. As scholarship begins to respond to the joy deficit in sociological research, our aim is to add to these conversations by exploring how participatory visual research production creates conditions for queer joy and euphoria to emerge. At the same time, we also highlight the moments during our workshop where queer joy failed – reminding us that queer joy, as praxis, needs to be further complicated and theorized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers the ways school dress code policies in the Atlantic Canadian province of New Brunswick subtly perpetuate heteronormative and cisgendered assumptions regarding acceptable youth cultures. Although past media attention in the province has drawn attention to their indiscriminate enforcement, little is known on how these policies implicate queer and trans youth. Using critical discourse analysis, I collect and analyse data from 113 dress code policies across the region and examine how the language constructs norms about gender and sexuality. My findings reveal many policies using language which largely excludes the stylistic expression of queer and trans students: The texts nullify overall student sexuality and attempt to stabilise gender in ways that make sense to oppressive systems. I argue that my findings have broader appeal to other educational jurisdictions and can be applied to a wider set of discourses and practices around school dress code policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper explores the joyful worldmaking that circulated between a group of 35 queer and trans adults and youth from across Atlantic Canada—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador—who came together in February 2023 for a do-it-yourself (DIY) archiving and artmaking workshop on unceded and unsurrendered Wolastoqiyik territory in Fredericton, New Brunswick—as part of an ongoing participatory visual research initiative called Pride/Swell+. Exploring this worldmaking through frameworks of queer joy, we ask: How does worldmaking circulate within the Pride/Swell + workshop space and archives? Why is queer and trans worldmaking valuable to 2SLGBTQI + youth? What is the importance in remembering and archiving the things that queer and trans folks are doing to craft their everyday lives? Through DIY artmaking and participatory methodologies, we explore how Pride/Swell + fosters spaces for 2SLGBTQI + folks, including youth, to think about their lives and queer communities in celebratory and joyful ways. Ultimately, we argue that uplifting everyday moments of queer and trans worlds in our project promotes a more complicated and nuanced understanding of what it means to be 2SLGBTQI + in Atlantic Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the experiences of Ph.D. students in the field of education, specifically focusing on the challenges they encounter and the importance of community and connection. The study was conducted with Ph.D. students from the University of New Brunswick, who shared their experiences during a data collection event. The findings emphasize the significance of establishing a supportive community within the cohort and maintaining a strong relationship with supervisors. Participants also discussed feelings of isolation and the need for support networks that understand the demands of the program. The study underscores the necessity of collaboration and support to navigate the difficulties of doctoral studies. Additionally, the article addresses the unique challenges faced by international students, such as adapting to a new culture and language, feeling isolated, and navigating an unfamiliar system. It highlights the importance of community and collaboration in addressing these challenges and suggests that further research is needed to support doctoral students in their academic journey. [Extracted from the article]