Discusses using Donna Haraway's concept of affinity and affinity politics as a foundation for structuring collaborative pedagogy and feminist syllabi. Outlines the goals and assumptions of affinity-based pedagogy, and relates classroom experiences that illustrate its functioning. Notes the lessons that both students and teachers have taken away…

Addresses feminist pedagogical issues concerning whether the instructional methods and content of self-defense courses truly result in the empowerment of women in response to violence against them. Reviews research on the utility of learning resistance techniques, lists recommendations for self-defense teaching methods, and outlines a sample…

Argues that there are special problems associated with designing and teaching a course about authors outside of the literary canon. Traces the development of a course on Victorian women writers from initial development difficulties to final thoughts on restructuring the syllabus. Notes works used in the course. (DSK)

Explores the possibilities and implications of poststructuralist feminism for the practice of feminist teaching. Reflects on the experience of a man occupying the position of male-feminist teaching about feminist philosophies. Approaches the issues by examining three speech situations from a poststructuralist position: "speaking…

Examines the silence of women authors within the canonical political-theory conversation. Discusses the experience of teaching Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman." Stresses the ongoing importance of the feminist project to reclaim women's writing and suggests ways that feminist theory can transform the teaching of…

Reviews the debate over argumentation within the feminist community, pointing out the types of theoretical problems presented to teachers. Argues that problems can be turned into learning opportunities, enabling students to become active participants in academic debates while encouraging them to have greater ethical self-awareness in their…

Presents an assessment tool for Women's Studies Programs, a survey based on the student-oriented instruments found in "The Courage to Question: Women's Studies and Student Learning" and "Students at the Center: Feminist Assessment," both edited by Caryn Musil. Evaluates the survey as an assessment tool and for gathering student data. (DSK)

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…

One of the great challenges of teaching in the post-9/11 United States is contending with persistent stereotypes and misinformation about Islam, "Arabs," "Arab Americans," and the "Middle East" within student bodies. Since 2003 the authors have been employing Iranian author Marjane Satrapi's work in the classroom as a…

Studies on gender discourses in classrooms have specifically examined how students negotiate their individual gender identities while disregarding their lived realities within a historical context. Nevertheless, although it is difficult and uncomfortable for them, students' responses to discussing gender reveal that the discourse positively…

This essay traverses back and forth across the institutionally-imposed boundary between storytelling and critical reflection to explore how the author's thinking about feminist pedagogical praxis has been irrevocably altered by the experience of losing a parent as well as facilitating mutual support groups for young adults whose parents or…

The death of the author's mother was not a surprise. Despite eighteen years of relative psychological and physical health while she lived with metastatic breast cancer, the last year of her life was a violent struggle against the disease that aggressively invaded her body. Her mother fought her death until the last moment. Within five days of…

Since that fateful day in September 2001, and in its terrible aftermath, the author has often sought inspiration from a wider community of humans seeking to create a different, less terrifying, world. In concluding her 1912 article, "The New Year," Emma Goldman boldly asserted, "Out of the chaos the future emerges in harmony and beauty." Chaos is…