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Talking about a revolution: The politics and practice of feminist teaching

This dissertation is a qualitative inquiry into the politics and practice of feminist teaching. While much literature exists which discusses feminist teaching, the majority of the literature is written from a personal perspective, or lacks empirical data. This study addresses that absence by weaving together theoretical feminist writings with empirical data on the lives of feminist women teachers. Taking a grounded theory approach, nine feminist women teachers were interviewed intensively about their lives, education, work, and feminist beliefs and practices. Of the nine teachers, five are high school teachers and four are university teachers, enabling comparative work across these two structures. The study reveals a complex interplay among feminist identity and practice and the social structures and social organizational features of both the high school and the university. A key dimension is the interplay of power between teachers and administrators and teachers and students, a politic which varies by location and by structure. Feminist practice for these women is more clearly a content than a process issue, and feminist teaching is location--as well as person-specific. In high schools, these teachers overtly and deliberately add feminist content, while carefully maintaining a balance between multiple viewpoints and their own, which I have termed the dilemma of disclosure and disaster. In universities, where content is more flexible, teachers' feminist practices extend to non-classroom locations and to both content and process issues within their classrooms. Connections are drawn to mentoring, the school as a workplace, feminist theory, censorship, and pedagogical practice. Additionally, feminist identity is problematized and located specifically within institutions and with individuals. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-08, Section: A, page: 2269. / Major Professor: Catherine Emihovich. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77211
ContributorsSattler, Cheryl L., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format365 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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