Feminisms and Critical Pedagogy PDF
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Feminisms an d Critical Pedagogy This page intentionally left blank Feminisms and Critical edagogy Ediled by Carmen Luke and Jennifer Gore R ~~~1!;"~~;,P LONDON AND NEW YORK Published 1992 by Routledge Published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXI4 4RN 711 Third Avenue, NewYork, NY 10017, USA ROl/l/edge is all imprilll of tlle Tay/or & Fra'lcis Grol/p, a'l infDrilla bl/siness Copyright <0 1992 by Routledge, Chapman and Hall, lne. The illustration on page 19 first appeared in The Worb 01 Jeremy Benthnm, vol. 4 (1843), edited by Bowring. All rights reservat No part ofthis book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any fonn or by any electronic, mec.hankaJ, or other means, now known or hereafter invented. including photocopying and recording, or in any infonnation storage or retrievaJ system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data Feminisms and critical pedagogy / edited by Carmen Luke and lennifer Gore. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-90533-8 (hb) ISBN 0-415-90534-6 (pbk.) I. Crilical pedagogy. 2. Feminist theory. 3. Feminism. I. Luke, Carmen. 11. Gore,lennifer, 1959- LCI96.F46 1992 30S.42- dc20 91-43568 ISBN 978-0-415-90534-3 (pbk) CIP British Library cataloguing in publication data also available Contents Acknowledgments vii Foreword ix Maxine Greene I. Introduction 1 Carmen Luke and lennifer Gore 2. Progressive Pedagogy and Political Struggle 15 Valerie Walkerdine 3. Feminist Politics in Radical Pedagogy 25 CarmenLuke 4. What We Can Do For You! What Can "We" Do For "You"? Struggling over Empowerment in Critical and Feminist Pedagogy 54 lennifer Gore 5. Interrupting the Calls for Student Voice in "Liberatory" Education: A Feminist Poststructuralist Perspective 74 Mimi Orner 6. Why Doesn't this Feel Empowering? Working Through the Repressive Myths of Critical Pedagogy 90 Elizabeth Ellsworth 7. Post-Critical Pedagogies: A Feminist Reading 120 Patti Lather 8. Feminist Pedagogy and Emancipatory Possibilities 138 lane Kenway and Helen Modra 9. Interrupting Patriarchy: Politics, Resistance and Transformation in the Feminist Classroom 167 MagdaLewis 10. Women in the Academy: Strategy, Struggle and Survival 192 Carmen Luke and lennifer Gore Index 211 Notes on Contributors 219 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments We express our appreciation for permission to reprint the following: Elizabeth Ellsworth. "Why Doesn't this Fee1 Empowering? Working Through the Repressive Myths of Critical Pedagogy," Harvard Educational Re view, 1989,59(3), 297-324. Copyright © 1989 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Jennifer Gore, "What Can We Do For You! What Can We Do For You? Struggling over Empowerment in Critical and Feminist Pedagogy," Educational Foundations, 1990,4(3),5-26. Jane Kenway and Helen Modra, "Feminist Pedagogy and Emancipatory Possibilities," Critical Pedagogy Networker, 1989,2(2&3). Patti Lather, "Post-Critical Pedagogies: A Feminist Reading," Education and Society, 1991,9(1-2). Magda Lewis, "Interrupting Patriarchy: Politics, Resistance and Transfor mation in the Feminist Classroom," Harvard Educational Review, 1990,60(4), 467-488. Copyright © 1990 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Valerie Walkerdine, "Progressive Pedagogy and Political Struggle," Screen, 1986,27(5), 54-60. We thank an anonymous reviewer for insightful readings and constructive sug gestions, and Jayne Fargnoli, our Routledge editor, without whose support this book would not have been possible. Importantly, we are indebted to the women in this volume who have raised many theoretical and practical issues of political significance to all of uso Our dialogues in print and in person have created friendships that connect some of us located in isolated institutional contexts in alliance across continents and oceans. We must also acknowledge that we have experienced a qualitatively different tempo and commitment among the women working together on this text. When we asked for text edits, they were dealt with promptly and meticulously, without lengthy disputations. In the context of this group of women, collaborative schol arship within non-combative working relationships has been arewarding experi ence. Finally, some personal acknowledgments: vii viii / Acknowledgments I wish to thank Parn Nilan, Terry Lovat and Jenny Allen for their support of my work during my first year at Newcastle University. I arn especially grateful to James Ladwig, Alison Dewar and Annette Corrigan whose enduring friendships, and political insights, have provided much ofthe support and challenge to sustain my academic work. Jennifer Gore Newcastle, Australia The preparation of this book was partially supported by a Jarnes Cook Univer sity Merit Research Grant. My appreciation to Richard Smith for his continuing support of my work and provision of institutional support to enable me to keep writing. Many thanks to Dianne Cooper for the hours of proofreading, typing and checking of references. Most of all, thanks go to Allan, Haida, and Rhonda for years of conversation and friendship. CarmenLuke Townsville, Australia Foreword Passion, acerbity, and spurts of brilliance mark the "uneasy" discourse in the chapters to come. In the context of an anthology focusing on diverse feminisms and critical theories of various sorts, a range of women writers enter into a mul tilogue among themselves. Most of them deliberately resist temptations of har monious agreement, although they surely come together in a concern for authen tic liberatory teaching and for the rejection of patriarchy. Demonstrating at every step that there exists no "essence" of radical feminism, they are drawn to shifting viewpoints, interruptions, the idea of multiple identities. And yet, as they make clear their refusals and resistances, they identify some of the most crucial and unsettled issues confronting teachers in search of emancipatory pedagogies today. The tone of the book is poststructural (verging on what is called postmodern in the United States). That means that there is a focal interest in signification, in power/knowledge relationships, in the harm done by master-narratives, and in the way institutional structures are controlled. The editors, emphasizing the cen trality of subjectivity, identity and knowledge in the work of schooling, say that their book should be read "as a re-thinking and re-vision of subjectivity, identity politics and formation, and knowledge from the standpoint of feminist educa tors." Perhaps most interesting, and bound to engage all but the most complacent readers, is the effort to break with the kinds of discourse and theory-building that have remained under the control of men. It is well known that the most well known and widely used radical pedagogies have been devised by males. Men, particularly in the academy, still claim discursive authority; women are still ex pected to identify their positions with theoretical signifiers that are fundamentally paternal. In the different chapters of this book, the writers declare their responsi bility to alter this: to clarify the meanings of gender; to redefine the masculinist "subject" and to rediscover the significance of embodied subjectivity; and to de velop, as women, a pedagogy of possibility. ix
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