Teaching with/out the F-Word

Abstract

In this paper the interdisciplinary team of authors analyzes a series of autoethnographic trialogues addressing feminist pedagogy, respectively teaching within and beyond gender studies environments. The authors find common ground in their search for a feminist stance in teaching and educational practices which may work with or without making the concept of feminism(s) explicit. The conversations evolved against the backdrop of the diverse disciplinary backgrounds of the authors and the universal experience by the authors that the mere mention of the word feminism(s) (the F-Word) evokes resistance among different actors (students, funders, etc.) in the field of education. We contextualize our experiences within the framework of »rhetorical modernization« (Wetterer 2003) and the »new gender contract« (McRobbie 2010) which both denote a re-traditionalization of gender discourses. Keeping in mind these contemporary developments we discuss if feminist teaching and research is necessary, and if it might be a legitimate strategy to avoid the F-Word and act more subversively. It is not our goal in this paper to present feminist research and teaching as a canon or part of a canon; instead we have developed an awareness in our trialogues that science is historically constructed along axes of inequality. Because of this fact it is particularly important to intervene in this ongoing social production. With and without the F-Word.