Teaching Gender in Indian Universities: Reflections on Feminist Pedagogy

Abstract

As the fault lines in the Indian social and cultural terrain get deeper along dimensions of caste, class, and gender, conventional approaches of merely 'incorporation' of these 'variables' in mainstream curricula need to be interrogated. This paper examines the challenges of teaching courses on gender as part of a social science curriculum in Indian universities. Taking a reflexive approach, it provides an account of the author's experiences in teaching gender-related courses to both men and women at the postgraduate level in sociology and discuss the gendered responses of the students. In a larger context, her thinking on the subject is informed by the argument that feminist pedagogy, while resisting academic ghettoisation, must not only make visibly the practices of patriarchy, but also attempt to imbue the study of society, politics and the economy with a feminist consciousness.