Rethinking the idiom for feminist pedagogy: The collaboration of theory and activism

Abstract

“Feminist Pedagogy for Dialogue between Generations” was the theme that the steering committee of the Korean Association of Women's Studies 2014 suggested for its annual conference held in 2014. I understand that this theme of inter-generational dialogue indicates a crisis regarding the reproduction of the next generation of feminists and the failure in popularizing feminism in Korea, which is not something new. However, what is new is that Korean feminists now seek to resolve this via feminist pedagogy. I contend that collaboration between theory and praxis or academia and field experience needs to be realized, not merely in name but as concrete practice. Democratic relationships between the two spheres are highlighted as most significant. Given that the decline in the socioeconomic situation of junior feminists in their 20s and 30s seems to persist and continue, feminist pedagogy also needs to go beyond the psychological state of relation-oriented-ness, as conceptualized by Carol Gilligan, and instead the sociological appropriation of psychological knowledge is suggested here.