Abstract
In recognition of various power systems within and surrounding their classrooms, US women’s studies instructors have for several decades worked to reconfigure the college classroom as an environment that enables all students to testify, thus creating empowered communities and ultimately inspiring the next generation of leaders. As some of the most repeated mantras of feminist pedagogy, these educational goals embody the liberating power of feminist theory and practice. The pedagogical practices employed in attaining these goals typically value experiential knowledge and encourage students to be attuned to various forms of speech and knowledge construction, which are framed through a politics of power and difference. As part of an ongoing conversation about the perils of cooperative learning, independent problem-solving, and peer leadership in higher education, this reflective essay describes one strategy, which I call the four-folder system. This instructional strategy troubles the promises of safety and implied instructor surveillance that so many feminist instructors adhere to, while simultaneously creating a multi-vocal learning environment. The techniques and rationale described may be applied to a range of courses and are not necessarily bound to introductory women’s studies surveys. I propose that given favorable conditions, embracing vulnerability and risk in the classroom better frees our students from the confines of conventional pedagogies used in higher education.
Highlights
Homework: Reflective journal entry that relates to peerdiscussion; Read 1 assigned article from anthology; Study as needed
Not trust me Students rarely disagreed with the items on this list because they recalled these fears from prior class experiences. Absent from these lists were accounts of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc., that were likely to be at the crux of discussion disputes, so I seized upon this as an opportunity to shift the class’ attention to these unspoken power systems
We suggest that no one-size-fits-all feminist pedagogy exists, and that feminist pedagogy and women of color can make for a dangerous liason” (p.111)
Summary
Instructors of introductory women’s studies courses find themselves in a perplexing situation: there is a constant tension between the theoretical postulations that they teach and the pedagogical methods upon which they rely. I worked primarily with first-year students, a surprising number of whom voiced concerns about taking my class due to their presuppositions about how the field countered their conservative political and/or religious beliefs.1 Having entered into this ideologically dissonant space, I redesigned my syllabus around self-discovery and collaborative learning models that I hoped would de-escalate existing student-teacher tension and encourage students to self-examine their attitudes and values. Unlike my colleagues from the sciences whose introductory courses serve as prerequisites for qualifying exams and upper division classes, few of my students would enter into the academic or community activist field of women’s studies This freed me to tailor course content to the needs of each section. Homework: Read 3 assigned articles from anthology; Assigned discussion-leaders electronically submit summary, discussion questions, and responses; Revise work as needed
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