Thursday, October 28, 2010

Readings on women's studies and pedagogy, anyone?

OK, so there's this group that I offered to chair in a fit of madness. Among other things, I need to come up with some ideas for a common reading that we can discuss at subsequent meetings, something about women's studies and pedagogy. (Personally, I'd prefer just to take some time and talk about women's studies and pedagogy, but some of the other members of the group seem to want to make it a Big Organized Thing! With assigned Readings! Maybe even an entire book, since we have the budget for books!)

So, any suggestions? I'd prefer something practically focused, about the challenges of teaching women's-studies-related content at an institution like mine -- not super-selective, in a pretty conservative part of the country, with lots of first-generation, vocationally oriented students -- and especially in gen ed courses. (Actually, I think what I really want to read is the book-or-article equivalent of Dr. Crazy's or Heu Mihi's blog posts on this topic, only I don't think I can get away with suggesting a blog post. Which does not preclude my shamelessly begging for suggestions on my own blog, because who's going to know?) I'm really hoping to avoid anything either heavily theoretical or confessional and self-indulgent.

Oh, and this faculty group is interdisciplinary, so pieces that are not exclusively English or humanities-focused would be a plus.

Tall order, I know, but y'all are awesome so I figured you might have some ideas.

7 comments:

Bardiac said...

Have you read *Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" by Tatum? It's not so much women's studies as race studies, but there's certainly plenty to connect, and it's really readable.

Or bell hooks?

moria said...

Less pedagogy than institutionality, but a start:

Robyn Wiegman, 'Feminism, Institutionalism, and the Idiom of Failure,' differences 11:3 (1999).

Sharon Marcus, 'Feminist Criticism: A Tale of Two Bodies,' PMLA 121 (2006).

Wendy Brown, 'The Impossibility of Women's Studies,' differences 9:3 (1997).

Fretful Porpentine said...

Thanks for the suggestions, Bardiac and Moria! Much appreciated!

Sisyphus said...

There was an entire journal issue on "the impossibility of women's studies" --- either Signs or Women's Studies?

Here's what I read for my feminist pedagogy class way back when:

Twenty-First Century Feminist Classrooms: Pedagogies of Identity and Difference, ed Amie Macdonald and Susan Sanchez-Casal

Teaching Feminist Activism, ed Nancy Naples and Karen Bojar

No Angel In the Classroom: Teaching Through Feminist Discourse, Berenice Fisher

There were a couple other books and a buge-ass reader, too, but this should tide you over. :)

Of course, I remember having very strong feelings and some negative reactions to some of them, but I don't remember which. I'd have to dig out my class notes to find that out --- and that *is* asking too much!

Fretful Porpentine said...

Thanks so much, Sisyphus!

Anonymous said...

bell hooks' Teaching to Transgress is a great choice.

maybe Professing Feminism: Cautionary Tales from the Strange World of Women's Studies (which would start an interesting and potentially impassioned conversation, but I'm not actually endorsing it, if that makes sense)

Fretful Porpentine said...

Thanks! I think we've got a short list of books we want to get from ILL and take a closer look at, but I may add those.