Critical Pedagogy and Personal Struggles: Feminist Scholarship outside Women's Studies

by Debra Langan and Deborah Davidson

This article was inspired by our attempts to impact student responses to feminist theorizing in a third-year social psychology course. It was grounded in our participant observation, over a three-year period, as instructors at York University in Toronto, Canada. In our respective roles as professor and tutorial assistant, we, Debra and Deborah, enjoyed a friendly, collegial relationship that was characterized by a collaborative approach to teaching and research. In our experience in a university setting we had seen how the infiltration of feminist ideas into "nonfeminist courses" was met with hostility from many students. We wanted to enhance the course experience, not only for disgruntled students, but also for ourselves. As noted by Robert Menzies and Dorothy E. Chunn, "The lecture podium can be a lonely place at the best of times, and anti-feminist resistance can be devastating" (68). During the three years we describe here, we implemented a number of pedagogical techniques to facilitate the teaching and learning of feminist theory with outcomes, overall, that were rewarding both to us and to the students. We understood that feminist pedagogy is "teaching that engages students in political discussion of gender justice" (Fisher 44) and that "the feminist teacher can be a potent agent of change" (Culley 211). However, we also understood that a change in consciousness was a precursor to a social change toward greater equality; thus, we wanted to raise student consciousness about feminism so that social change would be more likely. To this end we encouraged feminist analyses that critiqued how features of identity (gender, race, class, age, ability, and sexual preference) affect life experiences. Hence, our ultimate goal was to bring about changes not only in consciousness but also in practice at the micro level of social relationships. This goal necessitated our efforts to have students recognize and interrogate their resistance to feminist ideas, a reflective exercise with which students struggled, but also ultimately enjoyed. Throughout the course, we also reflected on and analyzed our own struggles in this process.