In this thesis, I invite readers to accompany me as I build a bridge that links my learning as a Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major in an elite private college back to the educational settings I grew up in. Here, I present a curriculum for middle school students in a private summer school I attended and worked at in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I chose to create a curriculum as a case study and a launching off point to learn how to bring feminist theory and critical social justice pedagogy back to my home and into my work. I hope to take intersectional feminist lenses and epistemologies forward into a career in K-8 teaching.

PhD thesis - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / In an attempt to add the voices of African feminist educators to the narrative field, and to address the critique that feminist discourses have generally been couched in theoretical abstraction, this study, which was conducted with five university women educators from various parts of Southern Africa, explores the enactment of feminist pedagogies in English language classrooms. The study was guided by the principles of feminist research methodologies, which advocate sensitivity to the subjective, emotional and biographic factors that shape the researcher and researched. Drawing from a suite of data sources, which comprised autobiographical and biographical narratives, lecture observations and interviews the study explores how the social variables of race, class, gender, politics, religion, etc. have influenced the participants’ feminist and language identity formation, and by extension how these inform their teaching of English from a feminist perspective, in terms of What they teach; How they teach, and Why they teach the curriculum content that they do. Taking the view that the personal is political and potentially pedagogical, the study provides a cursory commentary on the participants’ childhood and early adulthood, with the intention of exploring the potential a retrospective gaze of their identity formation has in terms of how they frame interpersonal relations with students and colleagues, and the enactment of their teaching identities. Identifying for more nuanced investigation the study tracks the trajectories of the participants’ coming to feminist consciousness, with a special focus on their adoption of project identities which they enact through their theorizing and teaching of English from a feminist perspective. Given their subscription and investment in narratives of emancipation that subvert social injustices and repressive domination, the study explores, at length, the complexities of feminist teacher identity in relation to the themes of difference, dialogue, and epistemologies of experience, all of which invariably encompass the overarching theme of feminist teacher authority. Acknowledging the slippery terrain of teacher and student identity calibrations, the study differentiates three ways in which authority is generally conceived of in feminist pedagogy, viz. authority versus nurturance, authority as authorship, and authority as power. In discussing the authority versus nurturance I argue for unhinging the female teacher from traditional associations of her with care-giver and intellectualised mammy. Urging for recognition of the woman teacher as female but non-maternal, I argue for a recontextualised and reconceptualised understanding of the female teacher – one that foregrounds her capability of offering critical intellectual nurturance. In exploring the delineation authority as authorship, which entails the mutual sharing of teacher-student personal experience in relation to broader public and academic discourses, the study cautions against the potential for personal epistemology to circulate within the realm of the familiar, narcissistic and sentimental, in the absence of meaningful critical and contextual pedagogic and educative relevance. In this regard, I suggest the consideration of two pertinent questions: viz. i) is there a shared assumption that the personal is good and the impersonal bad? and ii) given that other discourses of the personal are operating in the feminist classroom, exactly which personal are we referring to when we seek to validate the epistemology of experience? I argue that the pedagogic and educative worth of both teacher and students’ personal disclosures need to be subject to critical, analytical, and productive reflection to assess their value as knowledge. Critiquing enclaves of feminist pedagogical scholarship that suggest divesting the classroom of teacher authority as a way of rendering it more democratic, the discussion on authority as power agitates for an unmasking of the inevitable pedagogic and educative authority that the feminist teacher wields in the classroom. Through empirical evidence it illustrates variants of teacher authority that operate in the classroom and supports Gore’s (2002), proposition to develop a theory of pedagogy and power by acknowledging that: pedagogy is the enactment of power relations between teacher, student and other significant partners; bodies are the objects of pedagogical power relations, and in pedagogy, different differences matter; the kind of knowledge produced in pedagogy interacts with the institutional site and the techniques of power employed there; and pedagogy proceeds via a limited set of specific techniques of power. The study concludes with a theoretical and methodological reflective synthesis. The theoretical synthesis presents the central lines of argument that emerged from the issues investigated. The methodological reflective synthesis presents the participants’ comments on the validity of the study and the value that accrued to them by virtue of participating in the study.

Thesis advisor: Sharlene Hesse-Biber / Service-learning is an experiential form of education that moves students outside of the walls of academe to meet community-identified needs through the application and renegotiation of a set of theoretical and methodological skills. It is simultaneously a teaching strategy, an epistemological framework, and an educational reform movement. This research takes the form of multi-methodological case studies of service-learning classrooms and service-learning partnerships, examining the translation of feminist pedagogy to the service-learning experience. The voices of students, faculty, pioneers, administrators, and community partners articulate the common and uncommon struggles of teaching a new generation of students to learn and serve in agencies while simultaneously recognizing their own capacity for agency. This work provides evidence that applying feminist pedagogical principles to service-learning initiatives creates more meaningful transformations for our students, faculty, and communities. The interdependent Feminist Service-Learning Process posited here is an innovative framework for moving our students across the civic borders necessary for community engagement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

The purpose of this study was to determine answers to several research questions: 1.) What do pre-service teachers know about feminist pedagogy or teaching in ways that are culturally responsive? 2.) In what ways are pre-service teachers prepared to use feminist pedagogy? 3.) How is a lesson constructed utilizing a feminist curriculum? All participating pre-service Art Education students completed a Survey of Art History, a questionnaire of their background in Art History, a questionnaire on their ideas of feminist pedagogy, and completed a group brainstorming of lesson plans. Data was analyzed from student responses. Results support the need for teaching more feminist content and pedagogy. Recommendations are made for further research.

Although many aspects of English as a second language (ESL) academic writing instruction have been well researched, Leki, Cumming, and Silva (2008) note that, "There have been surprisingly few research-based descriptions of L2 writing classroom instruction" (p. 80). Although research related to the use of critical and feminist pedagogy in ESL is increasing, Kumaradivelu (2006) notices that it is still not clear how the critical awakening “…has actually changed the practice of everyday teaching and teacher preparation” (p. 76). The purpose of this study was to provide an individual response to the gaps identified by both sets of authors by investigating how critical and feminist theories could be utilized to develop an orientation to interactions in the everyday practices of an ESL academic writing classroom. In order to achieve this purpose, an autoethnographic study of an eight-week ESL academic writing course in an Intensive English Program (IEP) was conducted. The participants in this study included the teacher-researcher and seven learners. The data collected included the following: lesson plans, instructional materials, teacher field notes, teacher reflexive journal, transcripts of everyday class interactions, transcripts of multiple interviews with learners, learner written reflections, and learners’ written assignments for the course. Analysis of findings revealed that the critical and feminist theories selected for the course were realized even though there were some internal and external obstacles. Learners experienced positive shifts in their feelings about the topic of academic writing and their own abilities as academic writers. Learners’ written texts also reflected positive shifts with respect to the teacher’s goals for learners. These findings suggest that critical and feminist theories can be enacted in everyday classrooms and can be helpful with regard to improving teachers’ and learners’ experiences of everyday ESL academic writing classrooms.

For the purpose of achieving gender equality in education, this study analyses the transformative power of the elementary school teacher candidates on society. The theories in the field of sociology of education have been used as a starting point for the study. Based on the feminist pedagogies of different strands of feminism, feminist critical pedagogy has been presented to achieve gender equality in education. The transformation of curriculum and the hidden curriculum are elaborated to achieve a non-sexist education. After the depiction of the situation Turkey holds in the field of women&rsquo / s education, the research conducted in three universities using feminist methodology and interview method is presented. With a view on their gender socialization, gender perceptions of the teacher candidates are analyzed. The ways their lives both inside and outside the household are affected by patriarchal hegemony are depicted and their ideas on education and the reproduction of gender through education are analyzed. The new generation of teachers holds low transformative power to transform the inequalities in society. However, the females in the group are leading their own individual struggles that lead to changes in their close circles. The simplified notion of patriarchy they have makes them blind to the reproduction of it by women and supports the bias against feminists. The fact that they are open to change and yet detached from civil society is reason to conclude that in the short run the most influential results can be obtained through the institutional changes at teacher training programs and schools.

The purpose of this study was to determine answers to several research questions: 1.) What do pre-service teachers know about feminist pedagogy or teaching in ways that are culturally responsive? 2.) In what ways are pre-service teachers prepared to use feminist pedagogy? 3.) How is a lesson constructed utilizing a feminist curriculum? All participating pre-service Art Education students completed a Survey of Art History, a questionnaire of their background in Art History, a questionnaire on their ideas of feminist pedagogy, and completed a group brainstorming of lesson plans. Data was analyzed from student responses. Results support the need for teaching more feminist content and pedagogy. Recommendations are made for further research.

xi, 81 p. : ill. / The purpose of my choreographic research is to challenge traditional tendencies in Western culture that objectify the dancing body and instead suggest different ways of understanding and seeing the body. My research strategized ways in which the choreographer might create opportunities to validate body image experiences of female dancers in a collaborative choreographic endeavor rooted in feminist pedagogy practices. Qualitative methodology included improvisation, journaling, and group discussions to enable the dancers to express themselves subjectively through words and movement. Insights from choreographers and scholars of feminist pedagogy in dance informed the collaborative creative process. Participants in this study identified validation of the personal body experience as a source of knowledge and utilization of the voice in dance as significant components leading towards empowerment and subjectivity for female dancers. / Committee in charge: Shannon Mockli, Chairperson; Dr. Jenifer Craig, Member; Rita Honka, Member

Each day countless numbers of high school students remain standing at the threshold of the door to meaningful learning in art history because of traditional authoritative instructional methods and content. With the keys of feminist pedagogy, interactive teaching methods, and the new art histories, the teacher can now unlock that door and lead students to personally relevant learning on the other side. A case study using both qualitative and quantitative research methods was conducted in a secondary art history classroom to examine the teacher's pedagogical choices and the degree to which they enable meaningful and relevant student learning. The analysis of multiple sources of data, including classroom observations, revealed statistically significant correlations between the teacher's instructional methods and the content, as well as their impact on student meaning-making.

This research seeks to explore how the metal arts are taught to women in Kuwait in an undergraduate setting, making the call for the use of feminist pedagogy when teaching the metal arts to women in Kuwait. This research is achieved using the qualitative methodology of analytic autoethnography. The theoretical framework is a feminist lens bridging the social construction of gender with the gendering of objects and feminist standpoint theory. The data comes from the experiences of creating three of my own pieces of artwork as well as the pieces themselves in tandem with historical, political, and cultural contexts. The analysis from this research is then bridged with feminist pedagogy in order to begin to develop an inclusive metal arts curriculum for women in Kuwait.