This thesis comprises an analysis of ways to approach developing feminist pedagogies. Its main premise is that given the ideological, political and problematic nature of teaching and learning within educational institutions, it is not possible to define and prescribe a certain set of teaching behaviours that would constitute 'successful feminist pedagogy' in all circumstances. Instead, the thesis explores the changing nature of feminist theories, particularly the shift from essentialist feminism to feminisms of difference. It also considers a range of other influences on feminist teachers as they develop their approaches to teaching. These influences include critical and radical pedagogical theories; the impact of women on the teaching profession; postmodernism; using critique and reflection within the classroom; the nature of relationships in classrooms; the role of teacher education; and developments within English education. Since I am a feminist English teacher, I draw on my own classroom experiences, both at secondary and pre-service teacher education levels. I use these experiences not as models of feminist teaching practice, but as material to reflect on ways in which a feminist teacher might move towards creating intellectual imaginings for changing her classroom work so that it contributes to an ever-evolving vision of a different feminist future. The thesis is also concerned with the processes involved in intellectual work and in becoming a feminist teacher. Within the text I have used both journal writing, and personal reflection on classroom events, to disrupt the otherwise authoritative tendencies of thesis statements. This is why, rather than coming to conclusions about the specific attributes of feminist classrooms, I suggest ways in which feminist teachers can work on their own transition towards reflective, critical and feminist classroom practices.

This essay examines the novels Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison with feminist and African Amerian theory. The focus is on opppression and I study the men's roles and functions, whether the male characters follow social structures, if patriarchy is something noticeable and how this affect the female characters.

At the turn of the nineteenth century in England, the Gothic novel was extremely popular for its stories of ghosts, mysterious circumstances and of course, the “damsel in distress”. These novels depicted such women as virtuous heroines, women whose chastity, perseverance in the face of adversity (often brought about by a threatening male figure) and innocence made them models for female readers. However, such depictions of female virtue encouraged readers to associate positive female behaviour with suffering. Charlotte Dacre choose to challenge these beliefs by writing about heroines who attempted to understand and control their sexuality and their lives, regardless of societal mores. However, while Dacre writes of such women, her heroines always end up punished in some way, condemned to a life apart from the outside world by being shut away in convents, or succumbing to death. Comparing Dacre’s work to novels by Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis reveals her important contribution to English literature from a feminist perspective; however, it is conceded here that Dacre ultimately cannot envision women who can free themselves from accepted beliefs of virtue. Her heroines’ destinies seem the same as those of her contemporaries: to suffer. Still, her courage in writing about such heroines makes her a remarkable writer, and important to a feminist study of Gothic literature.

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No description available.

At the turn of the nineteenth century in England, the Gothic novel was extremely popular for its stories of ghosts, mysterious circumstances and of course, the “damsel in distress”. These novels depicted such women as virtuous heroines, women whose chastity, perseverance in the face of adversity (often brought about by a threatening male figure) and innocence made them models for female readers. However, such depictions of female virtue encouraged readers to associate positive female behaviour with suffering. Charlotte Dacre choose to challenge these beliefs by writing about heroines who attempted to understand and control their sexuality and their lives, regardless of societal mores. However, while Dacre writes of such women, her heroines always end up punished in some way, condemned to a life apart from the outside world by being shut away in convents, or succumbing to death. Comparing Dacre’s work to novels by Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis reveals her important contribution to English literature from a feminist perspective; however, it is conceded here that Dacre ultimately cannot envision women who can free themselves from accepted beliefs of virtue. Her heroines’ destinies seem the same as those of her contemporaries: to suffer. Still, her courage in writing about such heroines makes her a remarkable writer, and important to a feminist study of Gothic literature.

This thesis examines the writing in poetry and prose of a small group of English feminist writers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The best known of these authors was Mary Astell (1666-1731). The influence on the feminists' ideas of the philosophies of Descartes and of the most prominent English thinkers of the period, the Cambridge Platonists, is described. / The thesis focuses on three main themes in the seventeenth century feminists' writing. These were occupation, education and marriage. Emphasis is put on education as the most important of the feminists' concerns. They believed that the poor education women received in comparison with that received by men put women at a disadvantage in society in general and in personal relationships with men. They also believed that education was vital for personal happiness and spiritual fulfillment. In their writing about occupation, the feminists stated that the things that middle and upper class women were expected to do were unfulfilling. They wanted the right to occupy themselves with reading and writing without facing ridicule. On the subject of marriage the feminists' main concern also centred around education. They believed that women were at a disadvantage in the marriage relationship because they were not as well educated as their husbands. They thought that more equitable marriages were desirable, and that they would exist if women were better educated.