Denaturalise and Challenge Heteronormativity in the EFL Classroom : A queer analysis of Nancy Garden’s Annie on My Mind and the novel’s value in the EFL classroom

Abstract: This essay focuses on how heteronormativity is depicted and challenged in Nancy Garden’s Annie on My Mind, and the value of using the novel in the Swedish EFL classroom in order to deconstruct and challenge heteronormativity. The point of departure is that dominating discourses produce knowledge and information in favour of heteronormativity, which results in the oppression of other sexualities, but also that normative expectations are limited to their context. This essay shows that by applying a queer perspective on the novel, it is possible to analyse how the author challenges heteronormativity and thereby denaturalise it. Since a queer reading of the novel can pose a challenge to heteronormativity, it is valuable to use Annie in the EFL classroom to assist pupils to analyse and question the norms surrounding them. Rather than focusing on how some individuals deviate from the norm, a queer perspective on Anniemakes it possible to problematise the construction of normalcy.