Feminist Pedagogy Literature Review- Alyssa McGrath

Alyssa McGrath

Dr. B. Chang

2/12/17

Feminist Pedagogy Literature Review

Table 1. Summary of Blog Comments

Name:	Commented on:
Alyssa McGrath	Nichole Mann (Group 2: Narrative Learning)   and Angela McGee (Group 4: Humanist Learning)

Introduction:

Feminist pedagogy emphasizes the need for democratic spaces within education in order to make space for marginalized voices and call out systems of oppression. These practices are informed by feminist theories in which women and issues of sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, and other social inequalities are addressed. Feminist pedagogy takes as its root the need to deconstruct patriarchal institutions that silence groups of people and place the instructor as the locus of power in the classroom. Often the goal of feminist instructors is to create a space where student voices can be heard, knowledge is socially created, and the instructor cares for and guides students rather than serves as a primary authoritative lecturer. Feminist pedagogy is often characterized by its subversion of classroom roles wherein the teacher and students work together and learn from one another as they rethink ideologies and issues of identity.

 

General Themes:

Challenging Hegemony

           Though application of feminist teaching practices in the classroom may vary, instructors implementing feminist pedagogy aim to call out, name, and deconstruct systems of oppression. This approach to teaching encourages instructors and students to evaluate social frameworks and the ideologies from which they are operating. Instructors and students challenge hegemony with the desire to call attention to social injustice, make space for marginalized voices, and work towards social change. In her definition of feminist pedagogy, Kay Siebler (2007) suggests that there must be an emphasis on calling out sexism, racism, and classism (p. 74). By calling out moments of inequality, the classroom becomes a space where students who have previously felt silenced can have a voice. Elizabeth Tisdell (1998) argues that post-structural feminism deconstructs dominant discourses to unveil problematic language or categorization (139). Well-known scholar, bell hooks, proposed that this deconstruction and calling out of oppression is a desperately needed practice for the academy. She writes, “The call for a recognition of cultural diversity, a rethinking of ways of knowing, a deconstruction of old epistemologies, and the concomitant demand that there be a transformation in our classrooms, in how we teach, has been a necessary revolution—one that seeks to restore life to a corrupt and dying academy” (hooks, 1994, pp. 29-30). For instructors practicing feminist pedagogy then, the classroom serves as a space for critical discussions regarding power/authority and instructors must acknowledge that “no education is politically neutral” (hooks, 1994, p. 37).

Reconsidering Authority

            In order to deconstruct and dismantle patriarchal systems of oppression, instructors must reconsider the role of power and authority in the classroom. In her book Feminism Beyond Modernism, Elizabeth Flynn (2002) outlines the ways a 21^st century feminist approach to teaching can challenge the elitism of much academic work and can explore modes of institutionalized power and authority. She argues that postmodern feminist pedagogy makes students aware of abuses of power (Flynn, 2002, p. 131). It becomes necessary to de-center power and authority in the classroom to prevent the classroom as becoming a space that reproduces the systems of power that students are deconstructing. While instructors can never fully give up power and authority when they must ultimately assess student performance, they can make space for students to have more voice, more opportunities to teach content, to direct conversations, to choose activities, and to play a larger role in shaping the course.

            Reconsidering authority in the classroom also requires instructors to identify what they see as valid forms of knowing. In other words, do instructors privilege a particular mode of argument (often white, Western, and male)? Daniele Flannery & Elisabeth Hayes (2001) suggest that “the traditional way of viewing ‘authority’ emphasizes a mode of rational argument and excludes other, more diverse ways of knowing” (p. 35). These authors argue for more acceptance of alternative modes, such as using personal experience as a valid means of knowledge production. In doing so, they argue, we can challenge adult learning to “broaden its understanding about who are the respected knowledge makers and what is the actual knowledge that is considered to have or give authority” (Flannery & Hayes, 2001, p. 36). Thus, instructors no longer act as the only ones in the classroom with knowledge on a subject. Instead, students’ experiences and prior knowledge become valued and contribute to course discussions wherein students might collaboratively construct new knowledge on a subject. This restructuring of classroom authority encourages students to become stakeholders in classroom discussion and content and it positions the instructor as more of a guide or facilitator of knowledge production than a judge who makes the final ruling regarding who has voiced the right knowledge.

Acknowledging Intersectionality

            One theme that emerges among scholarship on feminist pedagogy is the need to acknowledge that identity is complex and fluid. Too often scholarship in the educational field generalizes about gender in the classroom. Feminist pedagogy highlights women’s experiences but does not seek to generalize about what it means to live or learn as a woman. Instead, feminist pedagogy acknowledges that many factors such as race, class, gender, and other social factors shape human identity. Scholars like Flannery & Hayes push educators to rethink research on adult learners in the classroom in order to better reflect how intersections of identity might be at play. For example, they question the generalizations made by scholars who have argued that adult women’s self-esteem seems low. Flannery & Hayes push these scholars to consider how race or ethnicity might further problematize issues of self-esteem in the classroom. “Some African-American women frequently express greater feelings of competence and self-confidence than white women, perhaps because their upbringing is more likely to promote competence and decisiveness,” they argue (Flannery & Hayes, 2001, p. 33). This example demonstrates the ways feminist perspectives can deepen our understanding of adult learners and help instructors develop practices that better address or at least acknowledge that identity is more complex than generalizations about gender make it seem.

            In addition to highlighting the ways intersectionality shapes identity, feminist perspectives also acknowledge that identity is fluid and one person might hold multiple identities. For example, some people “have family identities, social identities, Chicano-women identities, and working-class identities all at the same time” (Flannery & Hayes, 2001, p. 33). Furthermore, identities are fluid and will shift as instructors ask students to reconsider social structures. Throughout Teaching to Transgress, Hooks (1994) asks instructors to pay attention to and acknowledge the ways that learning can be painful as students reconsider ideologies and things they thought they knew are suddenly called into question. Feminist pedagogy posits that instructors cannot ignore the consequences of asking students to examine their own identities and that they must acknowledge the complexity of identity formation.

Using Engaged Teaching to Transform

            Many scholars who advocate for feminist pedagogy refer to it as transformational and engaging. Engaged learning, as bell hooks describes it, involves creating spaces for the sharing of knowledge, linking awareness with practice, helping students in a process of self-actualization, incorporating many moments of action and reflection, and to “share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students” (hooks, 1994, p. 13). Thus, it is clear that feminist pedagogy overlaps with other theories of instruction such as transformational learning. In her definition of feminist pedagogy, Carolyn Shrewsbury (1997) writes:

“Feminist pedagogy begins with a vision of what education might be like but frequently is not. This is a vision of the classroom as a liberatory environment in which we, teacher-student and student-teacher, act as subjects, not objects. Feminist pedagogy is engaged teaching/learning—engaged with self in a continuing reflective process; engaged actively with the material being studied; engaged with others in a struggle to get beyond our sexism and racism and classism and homophobia and other destructive hatreds and to work together to enhance our knowledge; engaged with the community, with traditional organizations, and with movements for social change.” (p. 166)

This demonstrates the ways feminist pedagogy seeks to engage students and instructor in ways that theories such as transformational learning might not.

            Engaged learning for feminist instructors means understanding that emotions can play a large role in education. Not only does hooks address the pain and discomfort students might experience as they learn, she also emphasizes the need to love (or genuinely care for) the students in the room—to care about their safety, their experiences, and their emotions. Flannery (of Flannery & Hayes) notes that she learns through feelings, experiences, and information and that for her, “it’s an affective and kinesthetic thing!” (2001; p. 29). When instructors acknowledge that students learn with their bodies and minds and that some students like Flannery feel a stronger sense of embodied learning, they can incorporate classroom activities that allow for the expression of emotions. Likewise, instructors no longer have to pretend that they feel nothing towards their students and that they are just there to objectively assign grades for assessment. Feminist pedagogy acknowledges the student and the instructor as people with complex emotions and identities and seeks to acknowledge these perspectives as valid sources of knowledge.

Implications:

            The scholarship presented here offers much insight into the ways we can reshape adult learning programs to incorporate feminist pedagogical practices. First, we can challenge hegemony in the classroom by exposing students to texts and assignments that bring to light issues of social injustice. The course readings and examples we offer students should be written by diverse people so that the classroom does not continue to promote the notion that only white males have intellectual things to contribute to society or academia. Elizabeth Flynn suggests using readings that directly discuss issues of gender and race to initiate conversations with students (2002, p. 136). Additionally, bell hooks advocates for instructors to lead tough but necessary classroom discussions about social injustice and to allow students to voice their concerns and discuss their experiences. We should require that students think critically about social and political structures that reflect misogynistic, racist, and close-minded ideologies. The classroom should become a space where students feel comfortable asking questions about theirs and others’ belief systems and power systems within society. We can incorporate activities that ask students to reflect upon and reconsider their own identities and positionalities so that they may more clearly understand their own ideologies and ways of seeing and knowing.

As instructors, we should also acknowledge our own positionality in order to decenter classroom authority. Tisdell suggests that positionality of instructors affects the dynamics of the course but that acknowledging our own positionality explicitly, we can attempt to reduce discomfort for students. For example, a white, middle class, female instructor asking students to discuss issues of blackness might make some students uncomfortable. They might wonder what that has to do with the class (especially if the course subject seems unrelated to issues of social inequality, gender, race, etc.). But discussing our own positionality (or privilege) up front might make students feel more comfortable discussing their own positionality. Being explicit about why these conversations are important and why we are having them in the classroom may help students feel safer within the classroom.

Instructors can also relinquish some of their classroom authority by allowing students to take the lead facilitating classroom discussions or teaching content. Students could be given more agency when deciding on classroom activities, readings, or deadlines. Many feminist scholars such as hooks and Flynn advocate for letting students guide classroom discussions and making more space for students to share narratives. Instructors might incorporate more projects where students reflect their own experiences or allow spaces where all voices are valued as they talk through a topic. Hooks encourages instructors to practice engaged pedagogy, we should encourage students to connect personal experience with the content of the course. She reminds us, however, that we should still be critical of what we and others share and that class shouldn’t turn into a therapy session where everyone gets to just share stories. Instead, students should be challenged to make real connections between lived experience and material they are reading or discussing in class.

         Additionally, instructor should directly acknowledge diversity in the classroom rather than ignore it. An open discussion about differing perspectives enhances learning as students recognize that knowledge and reality are socially constructed through multiple truths. Discussion-centered classes make more space for multiple perspectives to be represented than a lecture- or teacher-centered classroom. Students will hopefully feel more buy-in and take responsibility for what happens in the classroom.

           Lastly, instructors must practice engaged teaching and learning in order to transform students. They can develop engaged learning by incorporating many moments of action and reflection. Instructors can start an activity by asking students to reflect upon what they already know or have experienced in relation to the topic. Then, have them act upon this prior knowledge in some way. Ideally, this is through some sort of classroom discussion or collaboration. After the activity, students should reflect upon what they have learned or how this new knowledge changes how they see the topic, their ideologies, and their identity. Journaling, blogging, or reflective conversations can allow for this kind of reflection. As Siebler notes, however, the instructor must constantly participate in reflective practices as well. A teaching journal may allow for critical reflection in this way or engaging in conversations with other instructors about how to help students think critically about the society in which they participate.

All of these practices can help students better understand their belief systems and work towards enacting social change. Though these suggestions for classroom instruction may seem straight-forward, Flynn warns instructors to expect resistance as students may feel uncomfortable or may be unwilling to think critically about the topics. Flynn instructs not to censor students and to avoid taking sides during a heated discussion (2002, p. 137). This will encourage students to participate and will create a space where all perspectives are valued.

Reflection:

This project highlighted for me the lack of scholarship regarding feminist pedagogy in relation to adult learning. I found it easy to locate sources that discuss feminism in relation to teaching particular subjects or in specific fields and I am familiar with much of the scholarship on feminist pedagogy in the field of composition. However, I think this literature review demonstrates that while there is a lot of overlap among sources discussing feminist pedagogy, there are few sources that put feminist theory in direct conversation with adult learning. My hope is that this project will make it more clear how these two topics connect, particularly within the implications section.

I completed this assignment by first looking for scholarship that specifically addressed feminism and adult learning. When I found little scholarship on this specific subject, I turned to texts I was already familiar with that discuss feminist pedagogy in general. I found it most helpful to skim through the reference pages from sources I already knew in order to locate more relevant scholarship for this assignment. I think the most helpful strategy I used during this project was to pull out key terms from each of the sources and then identify where the sources overlapped to put them in conversation with one another.

Table:

Table 2. Summary of Literature Review

Main ideas/themes from the literature	Application of main ideas in practice
Challenging Hegemony	-Deconstruct social/power systems in class -Expose students to texts that challenge mainstream ideologies and notions of identity
Reconsidering Authority	-Acknowledge your own positionality as the instructor -Share authority and knowledge construction with students -Allow for student voices through critical course discussions where all perspectives are valued
Acknowledging Intersectionality	-Acknowledge diversity rather than ignoring it -Incorporate activities that ask for narratives -Avoid binaries and acknowledge that identity is fluid
Using Engaged Teaching to Transform	-Incorporate activities that value students’ experiences and ways of knowing -Reflecting as instructor is critical -Reconsider the role that emotions play in your teaching and student learning

References

Flannery, D. D., & Hayes, Elisabeth. (2001). Challenging adult learning: A feminist perspective. In V. Sheared & P. A. Sissel (Eds.), Making space: Merging theory and practice in adult education (pp. 29-41). Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.

Flynn, E. A. (2002). Feminism beyond modernism. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York, NY: Routledge.

Shrewsbury, C. M. (1997). What is feminist pedagogy?. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 25(1/2), pp. 166-173.      
 

Siebler, K. (2007). Composing feminism(s): How feminists have shaped composition theories and practices. New York, NY: Hampton Press.     

Tisdell, E. J. (1998). Poststructural feminist pedagogies: The possibilities and limitations of feminist emancipatory. Adult Education Quarterly, 48(3), p. 139.