ERIC Number: EJ1076162
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0954-0253
EISSN: N/A
Just Us, Just Discussing: Imagined Homogeneities in the Gender Studies Classroom
Karlsson, Lena
Gender and Education, v27 n6 p654-665 2015
This article explores practices of othering through formations of normative sameness in discussion-based seminar classrooms. It takes literary scholar Stanley Fish's question, "Is there a text in this class, or is it just us?", back into the classroom to explore the formation of a "just us," an imagined homogeneous interpretive community which, I argue, has discriminatory effects by normalising some voices and practices. It draws on feminist and anti-oppressive theory to discuss ways to pedagogically trouble the enactment of homogeneous interpretive communities in the Gender Studies classroom. As the Gender Studies teacher, I devised pedagogical practices based on the allocation of specific roles as a way to work towards an anti-discriminatory classroom by de-mystifying academic practice and framing seminar practice as a social genre. The article critically reflects on students' subsequent reluctance to take on roles and their preference for free-flowing discussions, doing what comes naturally, a "doing" of academia which, I suggest, is linked to social privilege.
Descriptors: Gender Issues, Controversial Issues (Course Content), Classroom Environment, Classroom Techniques, Discussion (Teaching Technique), Seminars, Educational Practices, Feminism, Critical Theory, Teaching Methods, Intervention, Educational Strategies, Foreign Countries, Undergraduate Study
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A