Discursive Placemaking Practices and White Christian Nationalism: Analyzing LGBTQIA+ Censorship Debates in a Southern, Small Town Library

Fuente: ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
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Auteurs principaux: Ryan Schey, Rebekah J. Adams
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Langue:en
Publié: 2026
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author Ryan Schey
Rebekah J. Adams
author_facet Ryan Schey
Rebekah J. Adams
Ryan Schey
Rebekah J. Adams
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents Discursive Placemaking Practices and White Christian Nationalism: Analyzing LGBTQIA+ Censorship Debates in a Southern, Small Town Library Ryan Schey Rebekah J. Adams LGBTQ People Gender Identity Sexual Orientation Christianity Whites Minority Groups Books Censorship Nationalism Fear Social Bias Ideology Libraries Power Structure Governing Boards This article examines a public library board meeting in a small Southern U.S. town with the goal of understanding local discourses about sexual and gender diversity amid increased challenges to LGBTQIA+ and BIPoC-themed books. Drawing on theories intertwining place, power, and identity, we analyze how arguments for and against censoring LGBTQIA+ materials are insidiously imbued with discursive practices part of, but not exclusive to, white Christian nationalism. Our analysis identifies three key discursive placemaking practices of white Christian nationalism that community members used: instilling fear, enforcing exclusions, and narrating temporalities (pasts, presents, and futures). Findings reveal that speakers--despite opposing ideological positions about LGBTQIA+ life--constructed a vision of their community influenced by whiteness and Christian nationalist ideologies. This analysis offers new pathways for understanding how public spaces become sites of contestation where multiple trajectories of power and identity converge, with implications for advocacy toward more inclusive and just library spaces.
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_EJ1499669
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 2026
record_format eric
spellingShingle Discursive Placemaking Practices and White Christian Nationalism: Analyzing LGBTQIA+ Censorship Debates in a Southern, Small Town Library
Ryan Schey
Rebekah J. Adams
LGBTQ People
Gender Identity
Sexual Orientation
Christianity
Whites
Minority Groups
Books
Censorship
Nationalism
Fear
Social Bias
Ideology
Libraries
Power Structure
Governing Boards
Discursive Placemaking Practices and White Christian Nationalism: Analyzing LGBTQIA+ Censorship Debates in a Southern, Small Town Library Ryan Schey Rebekah J. Adams LGBTQ People Gender Identity Sexual Orientation Christianity Whites Minority Groups Books Censorship Nationalism Fear Social Bias Ideology Libraries Power Structure Governing Boards This article examines a public library board meeting in a small Southern U.S. town with the goal of understanding local discourses about sexual and gender diversity amid increased challenges to LGBTQIA+ and BIPoC-themed books. Drawing on theories intertwining place, power, and identity, we analyze how arguments for and against censoring LGBTQIA+ materials are insidiously imbued with discursive practices part of, but not exclusive to, white Christian nationalism. Our analysis identifies three key discursive placemaking practices of white Christian nationalism that community members used: instilling fear, enforcing exclusions, and narrating temporalities (pasts, presents, and futures). Findings reveal that speakers--despite opposing ideological positions about LGBTQIA+ life--constructed a vision of their community influenced by whiteness and Christian nationalist ideologies. This analysis offers new pathways for understanding how public spaces become sites of contestation where multiple trajectories of power and identity converge, with implications for advocacy toward more inclusive and just library spaces.
title Discursive Placemaking Practices and White Christian Nationalism: Analyzing LGBTQIA+ Censorship Debates in a Southern, Small Town Library
topic LGBTQ People
Gender Identity
Sexual Orientation
Christianity
Whites
Minority Groups
Books
Censorship
Nationalism
Fear
Social Bias
Ideology
Libraries
Power Structure
Governing Boards
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1499669