Jón Ingvar Kjaran

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Iceland

Despite an increased interest in studying masculinity in terms of the merging experiences of fatherhood and violence, the way this subject position appears in the media is often left out of the academic debate on fatherhood and masculinity. This paper offers a contribution to extant research on fatherhood and masculinity by providing a discourse an...

In this chapter, examples of different trajectories of trans* activism in Indonesia are given. Furthermore, it will be discussed whether and how politics of intelligibility/unintelligibility can be framed and practiced among trans* activists, with the aim of increasing the livability of trans* gender subjects. The chapter draws on three examples in...

This chapter attempts to detach the notion of modernity from a Eurocentric narrative in which the West is exclusively the main reference for modern sexual and gender identities and activism. This chapter, therefore, shows that this vision is more a fictional portrait that is unable to fully explain the development and manifestation of diverse ident...

In this chapter we give two examples of HIV activism in Indonesia in which we draw on Ahmed’s queer phenomenology and frame activism as crossing or moving away from “straight lines,” thereby highlighting how queer activists resist stigma and epistemic deficit by raising awareness and disseminating knowledge about HIV/AIDS. As with other communicabl...

This chapter describes queer activism in Malaysia as opening and knocking on different doors. It is also about identifying which doors can be opened and by whom and how to navigate the politics of the door. It is about queering doors and/or making some doors queer in the sense that they open up spaces of diversity and accessibility for queer bodies...

This chapter provides an assemblage of theories, derived from queer and feminist poststructuralist scholars such as Foucault, Deleuze, and Butler as well as Ahmed’s postcolonialism and queer phenomenology. This assemblage provides a fairly nuanced and wide-ranging platform, allowing researchers to create a unique, multidimensional lens for investig...

This chapter establishes a historical context indicating that the social and queer movement is not typically a linear process. Instead, depending on the power mechanisms and unanticipated human actions, it may involve nonlinear, spontaneous evolutions, progressions, and regression. Thus, this chapter shows that the earlier homosexual and gay libera...

In this chapter we synthesize our arguments and emphasize that queer activism in Indonesia and Malaysia is about creating communities of knowledge in which the dominant knowledge regimes are disrupted. At the same time, new knowledge is produced to counter the dominant discourses on sexuality and gender. In order to create new knowledge and dissemi...

This chapter provides an overview of the book and its particular focus and contribution to the generating of knowledge on queer activism at the micro level in Southeast Asia. It describes the aims and structure that informed the research. The methods used and setting of the research, as well as the researchers’ positionality, are discussed. The foc...

This paper is an examination of how stories shared as a result of the #metoo movement in Iceland exemplify aspects of how culture and institutions in Iceland are complicit in the silencing of immigrant women who experience violence, both in intimate partner and employment situations. Through a critical analysis of 10 of the narratives shared by imm...

As a contribution to the growing debate on the gender and sexual reading of spatiality and built public spaces, this paper aims to situate this issue in a new context, Iranian society. The recent studies of sexuality and environmental spatiality show that public spaces are constructed around official dominant discourses and particular notions of ap...

Since the 1990s the LGBTI+ rights movement in Iceland has gained various successes and the country has now become widely known as a “gay paradise,” both internationally and locally. Although the utopian image has been rightly criticized, this shift is a dramatic turn from the rural attitude of silence or condemnation that was prevailing in the twen...

In the homosocial space of the all male military service, (hetero)masculinity and gender normativity are promoted and bravery and warrior mentality are highly valued. On this basis, policing gender and sexuality is a relevant issue, aiming to reward heteronormativity and hyper masculinity and marginalize non heterosexuality and gender nonconforming...

Male perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Iceland has often been depicted as a progressive society regarding the issues of gender equality and sexual diversity. Furthermore, queer issues and non-heterosexuality, is mentioned in the national curriculum from 2001. However, LGBTI/queer students and teachers are not very visible in schools and educational institutions. Moreover, some researche...

Drawing on a critical discourse analysis of policy documents and textbooks, this paper contributes to the growing field of research on the role of schools and schooling with regards to the construction of gender and sexuality by focusing on school practices and educational spaces. We argue that the nation-state in the Islamic Republic of Iran is a...

The chapter examines how Critical Race Theory (CRT) can be used effectively in educational research. To do so examples are given which draw on current research the authors have conducted within the Icelandic education system. Critical Race Theory takes a holistic view toward anti-racist or exclusionary discourse. The focus is on historical systemic...

This chapter focuses on gay activism and non-formal outreach work among Iranian gay men, living inside of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It discusses what it means to be a gay activist and how it is possible to build up a community of support and learning through underground or online outreach work, in a society that criminalizes same-sex sexual act...

This opening chapter introduces the educational outreach work done by queer social movements in schools. Queer social movements have been active in changing educational policies and legislation to prevent discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression as well as influencing schools through their general adv...

Approaches and perspectives with regards to queer outreach work in schools are diverse, as discussed in the chapters of the book Queer Social Movements and Outreach Work in Schools: A Global Perspective. They all engage with critical aspects of queering heteronormativity and the workings of Othering and heterocisgender privileges. There are many gl...

The Nordic Countries have often been depicted as progressive societies regarding the issues of gender equality and sexual diversity. Queer issues and non-heterosexuality, however, are either hidden in many national curricula, or not enacted at all. Queer students and teachers are not very visible in schools and educational institutions. Thus in ord...

The homophobia and hostility experienced by queer learners in Icelandic and South African schools are well documented. Drawing on in-depth interviews with queer youth (16–19 years) in Iceland and South Africa, this paper aims at understanding how queer youth navigate heterosexist and homophobic school spaces and create some positive spaces. The fin...

This book brings together leading scholars researching the field of gender, sexuality, schooling, queer activism, and social movements within different cultural contexts. With contributions from more than fifteen countries, the chapters bring fresh insights for students and scholars of gender and sexuality studies, education, and social movements i...

This short concluding chapter summarises the key issues which have emerged from the research presented in preceding chapters in the book. The chapter focuses particularly upon the common global issues relating to LGBTQ+ equality and diversity in education which are discussed in the contributions, as well as key points of difference across internati...

In the field of gender, sexuality and education, much research to date has focused on homophobic/transphobic bullying and the negative consequences of expressing non-heterosexual and non-gender-conforming identities in school environments. Less attention has been paid to what may help LGBTQ+ 1 students to experience school more positively, and rela...

Rannsóknin fjallar um heterósexíska orðanotkun íslenskra framhaldsskólanemenda sem hefur ýmsar birtingarmyndir. Erlendar rannsóknir benda til að orðanotkunin valdi nemendum óþægindum en fáar íslenskar rannsóknir fjalla um efnið. Markmiðið var að skoða tilteknar íslenskar birtingarmyndir orðanotkunarinnar, svo sem notkun orðanna faggi/faggalegt um ó...

The #metoo movement in Iceland included academics, politicians, artists, actresses, tech workers, and many others. Immigrant women also stepped forward with stories of intimate partner violence (IPV) and employment-based violence (EBV). The stories, published in Kjarnin with an open letter demanding change, also tell of a sometimes callous lack of...

Fólk með þroskahömlun hefur í gegnum tíðina verið jaðarsettur hópur og átt fá tækifæri til atvinnuþátttöku á almennum vinnumarkaði. Árið 2013 stofnuðu fimm nemendur í starfstengdu diplómanámi fyrir fólk með þroskahömlun við Háskóla Íslands kaffihúsið GÆS í starfsnámi sínu. Rannsóknin sem hér er til umfjöllunar hafði það að markmiði að draga fram og...

Sexual consent determines if sex is consensual, but the concept is under-researched globally. In this article, we focus on heterosexual young men and how they negotiate sex and consent. We draw on peer group interviews to understand how young men are constituted by the dominant discourses at play in shaping their realities. We have identified two d...

The list of gender equality legislation in Iceland includes gender-based quotas for boards of directors, equal leave for parents, and the recent equal pay act. Despite this, Icelandic workplaces, especially the hierarchical power structures in them, continue to be highly gendered (Axelsdóttir & Halrynjo, 2018; Steinþórsdóttir, Brorsen Smidt, Péturs...

The chapter addresses the intersection of sexuality, gender, and bodies in terms of HIV/AIDS, which, during the last decades, has increased in Iran, particularly in Tehran, due to high numbers of IDUs (injecting drug user). It explores how the discourses on HIV/AIDS have evolved within Iran and how those bodies, who live outside of what can be cons...

The chapter focuses on gay/queer activism among Iranian gay men, living inside of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It discusses what it means to be a gay activist, drawing attention to the socio-cultural context and particular historicity. It draws on interviews with gay-identifying Iranian males who could be seen/defined as activists, fighting for no...

Disavowal and regulation of sexual minorities will be explored by engaging with important historical sources and accounts that speak to the historical contingencies of the emergence of same-sex desire and the category of “the homosexual” in Iran. Incorporated into this account is the political and social history of Iran from the latter part of the...

The chapter discusses how the modern Iranian gay subject has been constructed outside of Iran. The discourses reproduced by Western (pink) media on same-sex desires have mostly been framed around victimization and the persecution of gays within Iran. The gay international movement and organization in the global north, as well as sexual Iranian refu...

The chapter draws on interviews taken with gay-identifying Iranian males. A particular Foucauldian analysis is used when engaging with interview data in order to address questions of gay embodiment and embodied experience, as well as to explore the different ways gay-identifying Iranian men navigate their lives. The aim is to draw attention to the...

The chapter provides empirical insights into how gay/queer Iranian men navigate their lives between different spaces—social, virtual, and physical—in order to accommodate their gay identity and sexual desires within the legal-social and Islamic context of modern Iran. By employing Foucauldian analytic frameworks that attend to questions of heteroto...

“Jón Ingvar Kjaran examines the complicated embodied experiences of gay-identifying men in Iran, focusing on their agency and the ways in which they carve out meaning in their lives. This is no easy task, since these men must resist both the official homophobic discourses of the state and the personal trauma they endure from family and society. The...

The chapter lays out the theoretical framework of the book, which is mostly inspired by Michel Foucault’s work. It discusses how the author engaged with Foucault during and after his fieldwork. Foucauldian concepts, such as panopticon, docile bodies, biopower, and heterotopia, as well as his notion of bodies as a site of power and resistance, are d...

The chapter summarizes the main arguments of the book and draws attention to the terms of recognizability, enactment, and livability of same-sex desire, and how gay Iranian men find ways to accommodate their existence under historically specific conditions of disavowal and criminalization of homosexuality. It also discusses the need to go beyond bi...

In this article we examine accounts of self-identifying Iranian gay men. We draw on a range of evidentiary sources—interpretive, historical, online, and empirical—to generate critical and nuanced insights into the politics of recognition and representation that inform narrative accounts of the lived experiences of self-identified gay Iranian men, a...

The purpose of this article is analysis of discursive marginalisation through education in Nordic welfare states. What knowledge do Nordic research discourses produce about marginalisation through education in Nordic welfare states? What are the Nordic contributions to research discourses on marginalisation through education? We apply a discourse t...

The Nordic countries have often been depicted as progressive societies regarding sexual diversity and gender equality. These progressive changes in sexual minority issues, however, have not brought about radical changes in educational policies in addressing gender and sexual equality in schools. Both compulsory and upper secondary education often l...

Organization of spaces in schools often revolves around gender and sexuality. For example, it has been reported that restrooms and locker rooms are the most heteronormative and heterosexist spaces within schools. Particularly within these spaces, hegemonic heterosexual masculinity/femininity is institutionalized, not only in the practices and indiv...

This article is based on an ethnographic study that is concerned to provide empirical insights into queer Iranian men’s lives in Iran, and specifically in Tehran. It was conceived in response to concerns about accounts provided by gay internationalist framings of the queer Iranian subject as reducible to a meta-narrative of homophobic persecution a...

Key concepts and theories are introduced in this chapter. It discusses first the theoretical foundations of the research in relation to schooling sexualities and gendered bodies. It then proceeds to address the spatial turn in sociology, outlining various theories on space and spatiality, with regard to schooling and schools. Queer theory is also d...

Queering as a verb, “to queer”, is employed here, in order to discuss the possibilities of queering the heteronormativity and discourse of normalcy within educational settings. In this chapter “queering” is approached in three ways: Firstly, by taking a reflexive turn, focusing on teaching practices. Secondly, by presenting various strategies which...

This chapter summarizes the main arguments of the book by drawing attention to the particular significance and contribution of Nordic accounts and perspectives to the international field given the specific historical legacy of sexual and gender equality. However, some caution is advised in the tendency to cast such contexts in idealized and romanti...

This chapter examines the notion of the Nordic countries as a queer utopia as it addresses sexuality and gender equality, within society in general as well as in the educational sphere. This is explored by giving an account of the development of progressive human rights policies as they relate to addressing sexual and gender inequality. Moreover, s...

This chapter takes up a particular Foucauldian analysis to address questions of queer and trans embodiment in schools. It particularly draws on Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, the space of other, and technologies or practices of the self. The question of how space and spatiality is made and remade through embodiment and social interactions is ce...

Heteronormativity connotes a body of lifestyle norms which hold that people fall into distinct and complementary genders or sexualities. These discourses and norms then become institutionalized, interwoven into the processes and culture of institutions, such as schools. For sexual and gender minorities, the regime of heteronormativity is still stro...

This book sheds light on how sexuality and gender intersect in producing heteronormativity within the school system in Iceland. In spite of recent support for progressive policies regarding sexual and gender equality in the country, there remains a discrepancy between policy and practice with respect to LGBTQ rights and attitudes within the school...

Provides an overview of the book and its particular focus and contribution to the international field of queer and transgender studies in education. It describes the aims, structure and research questions that informed the research. The question of the Nordic context as a queer utopia is also introduced but is more fully addressed in the following...

This article explores how 11 gay and bisexual young men in Iceland, whom we interviewed, have adopted different strategies to deal with the reality of Icelandic masculinity manifestations in the early 2010s. Bourdieuean views of explaining their ideas as social strategies were utilized to interpret how they had adopted behaviors, looks, and ideas i...

The concept of queering space and queer spatialities is the topic of this chapter. It draws particularly on Doreen Massey’s theoretical work on space, particularly the notion of space as not being stable and fixed, but remade and unmade constantly. Queer spatialities can also be understood as counterpublics, a term coined by Nancy Fraser (Social Te...

In this paper, we study how Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people (LGBT) students in Icelandic upper secondary schools interpret their experience of heteronormative environment and how they respond to it. The aim is to explore how sexualities and gendered bodies are constructed through ‘schooling’. The article draws on interview data with s...

Heteronormative culture and heterosexism is experienced by many LGBT students and queer individuals in their daily interactions with their environment. Icelandic upper secondary schools are no exception in this respect. This article draws on interview data with five LGBT students supported by semi-participatory observations at two upper secondary s...

Being a small island society close to the Arctic Circle, Iceland has depended on its agricultural and fishing industries since its settlement in the late 9th century. Thus, historically, Icelandic society has valued stoic characters, independence, strength and resourcefulness for both men and women; a blend which has been referred to as ‘Viking mas...

The concept of space is gaining increased attention in studies of sexuality and gender, not least those focusing on heterosexism and heteronormativity. Such studies have demonstrated that space is sexualised, gendered and actively produced. In this article, we present the findings from an ethnographic study of two Icelandic upper secondary schools....

How does institutionalized heterosexism manifest itself in Icelandic upper secondary schools and how do lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students respond to these manifestations? In addressing these questions, interviews were conducted with six current and former LGBT upper secondary school students, using queer theory and thematic an...