While I don't think my entire pedagogy will find basis in the feminist approach, I am a fan of the inclusiveness that feminist pedagogy strives for. The unique lens that each student brings to the classroom can be nothing but incredibly diverse, and having aspects of your pedagogy incorporate that diversity is important. Given my interest in incorporating creative writing into the composition classroom, I also think that allowing emotion to have some presence alongside facts and analysis can also play an important role in helping students adjust to academic writing and care about what they write.
The aspect that I don't favor is the seemingly heavy emphasis that feminist pedagogy seems to place on the political.While I wouldn't stop a student who wanted to use his or her voice in a political setting, and would in fact encourage that purpose of wielding, I wouldn't place any more emphasis on that purpose than on self-exploration or philosophizing. The important thing is that whatever the student is writing, whoever they are writing for, they are able to appropriately judge the genre and audience and compose their text accordingly.
Hi Steven. I’m sorry for the tardiness of this response (I’m playing a little game of catch-up). I really like what you’ve said here. I don’t think it’s chauvinism on your part thinking there would be more about women in the feminist pedagogy article. I too was surprised by this, and I think you put it quite well when you say “perhaps there is a difference between feminism and feminist pedagogy.” I equally love how you say “FP seems to take into account not only the worthiness of women but all fringe identities that have trouble finding a voice.” I think it’s this idea of finding one’s voice that, at least to me, makes this pedagogy probably my favorite, and surprisingly it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m female. Disrupting norms also is something that’s been on my mind lately (again, nothing to do with my gender identity). Your blog post has lots to ponder. In fact, after reading your post, I can’t help but wonder if feminist pedagogy wouldn’t perhaps be pushed forward if it was renamed?
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