Examines three factors contributing to the perceived hostility toward women on university campuses dominated by science and engineering programs. Considers student resistance to direct instruction on gender issues and strategies for overcoming their resistance. Describes two courses that successfully used project-based learning to raise gender…

Examines the ways in which authority and power operate in the classroom. Uses two metaphors to describe the poles of classroom dynamics (the love-relationship and the battlefield model). Suggests that the processes of writing and reading as interpretation and discovery can act as a more suggestive instructional model. (CMK)

Discusses students' reactions to rage focusing on their responses to bell hooks' collection of essays, "Killing Rage." Believes that by studying postcolonial responses to rage feminist teachers can learn how to responsibly articulate and respond to rage. Considers postcolonial and western feminist responses to rage and addresses using socially…

Given the emphasis on education and consciousness-raising that pervades many environmental justice movements, it seems inevitable to draw parallels between feminist pedagogy and environmental justice. Both environmental justice issues and feminist pedagogy address intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and nation; both combine…

Despite the recognition by early champions of the environmental movement in the United States that humans and the diverse ecosystems in which they live are indivisible, many environmental education policies and programs have tended to uphold the categorical distinction between "nature" and "culture" (e.g., Sessions; Soule and Press). In the late…

From interacting with their students, many teachers are aware that the concepts of feminism and environmentalism can conjure up impoverished, deficient, and equally painful stereotypes. For some college students, feminism can mean merely equal pay for equal work. Environmentalism may trigger similarly limited associations, but inevitably…

The field of American Studies explores the cultures and practices of individuals and communities in the United States, as well as their transnational exchanges and impacts. It is an interdisciplinary field that is based on making "connections." Environmental justice, as a social movement, also makes important connections. It integrates social and…

As the pieces by Di Chiro, Plevin, and Sze in this issue have illustrated, feminist pedagogy offers a productive framework through which to explore environmental justice issues. Environmental justice issues, in turn, offer invaluable sites for feminist praxis. The mutually enriching relationship between the two fields results from their similar…

Written in the early twentieth century, Virginia Woolf's essay, "A Room of One's Own," invites its readers to join her in search of the answer to the question of "women and fiction," and in the process the readers are treated to a piercingly articulate perspective on the condition of women in a world culture built on women's exclusion and…

Since the late 1990s, the Independent Women's Forum (IWF) has run two major campaigns on the campuses of American colleges and universities. One, entitled "Free Cupid!," attempts to combine gender egalitarianism with conservative notions of heterosexual romance. The second campaign, entitled "Top Ten Things Your Professors Do to Skew You, "…

In this article, the author discusses a course she taught entitled, "Grrl Power and Beyond: Third Wave Feminism and Contemporary Popular Culture," in the interdisciplinary American Studies Program at her college. Here, she lays out her goals in designing the course, and the ways that her students, her circumstances, and her classroom experiences…

How does an African American feminist psychologist develop and promote an interdisciplinary sexuality course placing the experiences of African American women at the center of analysis while simultaneously maintaining its relevance to all students? This article provides answers by explaining how a course's title, perspective, structure, and…

In this essay, the author describes a judicial confirmation simulation she developed as an approach to feminist teaching. She also discusses the importance of active learning in the classroom, as well as simulation background and teacher preparation for the simulation. Students are asked to sign up for various roles in the simulation. These are:…

This article presents a conversation with Agnes Wilcox, Executive Director of Prison Performing Arts in St. Louis, Missouri, about Prison Performing Arts. Although the average person might balk at the notion of interacting with prison inmates, finding it intimidating, worrisome, or self-sacrificial, for Wilcox, Prison Performing Arts is a…

In this article, the author talks about using the play entitled, "Miss Julie" to educate her students about date rape. According to her, the play presents a unique opportunity to bring up the topic of date rape. Several theories, including the social learning theory and the evolutionary theory, have been put forth to explain the existence of rape.…