Introductory description

n/a

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Session 1
Whose feminism and why feminist pedagogy?
In this introductory session, we will explore what constitutes ‘feminist pedagogy’ and examine the implications this has for how we think about community, power and knowledge production.

Required reading
Ahmed, S. (2016) Living a Feminist Life. Durham: Duke University Press. Introduction: ‘Bringing Feminist Theory Home’

Mohanty, C. (1998) Feminism without Borders: Decolonising Theory, Practising Solidarity. Durham: Duke University Press. Chapter 8: ‘Race, Multiculturalism and Pedagogies of Dissent’

hooks, b. (1992) Teaching to Transgress: Chapter 1: ‘Engaged Pedagogy’

Session 2
Who gets to be a feminist activist? What counts as feminist activism?
Depending on how one defines both ‘feminism’ and ‘activism’ the possibilities for individual and collective action change quite dramatically. In this session, we will wade into the murky debates about what feminist activism is, what it looks like and what kind feminist pedagogical strategies underpin different feminist activisms.

Required reading
Koyama, E. (2003) ‘The Transfeminist Manifesto’ in Dicker, R. and Piepmeier, A. (eds) (2003) Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Johnston, J. and Taylor, J. (2008) ‘Feminist Consumerism and Fat Activists: A Comparative Study of Grassroots Activism and the Dove Real Beauty Campaign’ Signs, 33(4): 941-966.

Rapp, L. et al (2010) ‘The Internet as a Tool for Black Feminist Activism: Lesson from an Online Anti-Rape Protest’, Feminist Criminology, 5(3): 244-262.

Session 3
Doing feminist pedagogy: Consciousness-raising sessions
In this session we will examine what is seen as an essential part of feminist pedagogy—consciousness-raising (CR) sessions. Viewed by some as the first practical step of realising the personal is political and taking collective action, CR is also derided as being a self-indulgent and individualising practice of privileged women.

Required reading
Reger, J. (2004) ‘Organisational “Emotion Work” through Consciousness-Raising: An Analysis of a Feminist Organisation’, Qualitative Sociology, 27(2): 205-222.

Sobande, F. (2017) ‘Watching Me Watching You: Black Women in Britain on YouTube’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(6): 655-671

Listen to oral history interviews with key British feminist activists on consciousness-raising, archived at the British Library https://www.bl.uk/sisterhood/articles/consciousness-raising

Session 4
Doing feminist pedagogy: Non-hierarchal collectives and group-centred leadership
Given feminism’s politics of dismantling oppressive systems, an important tenet of feminist pedagogy is abolishing hierarchies of domination in everyday life. Consequently, many feminist activist spaces are designed to be non-hierarchical and eschew individualised leadership. In this session, we will investigate why horizontal organisational practice can be empowering for some feminist actors but also explore why many non-hierarchical collectives collapse under the ‘tyranny of structurelessness’.

Required reading
Freeman, J. (2013)[1970] ‘The Tyranny of Structurelessness’, Women’s Studies Quarterly, 41(3&4): 231-246.

Boler, J. et al (2014) ‘Connective Labor and Social Media: Women’s Roles in the “Leaderless” Occupy Movement’, Convergence, 20(4): 438-460

Session 5
Activist Case Study: Siana Bangura x No Fly on the Wall
Over the next three sessions we will compare and contrast how different feminist actors define and enact their pedagogy, politics and activism. Siana is a contemporary artist and poet based in Coventry and London and she will discuss the pedagogy of her artistic practice and how she’s helping to support the next generation of Black feminist activists with No Fly on the Wall.

Required Reading
Amin-Addo, J. (2014) ‘Activist-Mothers Maybe, Sisters Surely? Black British Feminism, Absence and Transformation’, Feminist Review, 108(1): 44-60.

Session 6
Reading week

Session 7
Activist Case Study: Layla Roxanne Hill x Yon Afro Collective
Yon Afro Collective (YAC) is a Scottish Black feminist collective and Layla co-founded the group in Glasgow in 2016. YAC seeks to build community among Black women and challenge the marginalisation and misrepresentations of Black women in Scottish public life. For this session, Layla will run a zine-making workshop and discuss the pedagogy of this process.

Required Reading
Creasap, K. (2014) ‘Zine-Making as Feminist Pedagogy’, Feminist Teacher, 24(3): 155-168.

Session 8
Activist Case Study: Kathryn Medien x Sisters Uncut
This week we will highlight the work done by feminist anti-austerity activists who organise against gentrification, cuts to anti-violence against women services, and incarceration. Kathryn will discuss the meaning, purpose and impact of multiracial and multi-class direct action feminist organising.
Required Reading
Emejulu, A. and Bassel, L. (2017) ‘Resisting Epistemic Violence: Women of Colour’s Anti-Austerity Activism’ in Whyte, D. and Cooper, V. (eds) The Violence of Austerity. London: Pluto Press.

Session 9
International Women’s Day event
Students will co-design and co-organise an event for IWD 2018 that draws on course readings, group debates and lectures to fulfil the module’s learning outcomes.

Required Reading
Davis, A.Y. et al (2017) ‘Beyond Lean-In: For a Feminism of the 99% and a Militant International Strike on March 8’, Viewpoint https://www.viewpointmag.com/2017/02/03/beyond-lean-in-for-a-feminism-of-the-99-and-a-militant-international-strike-on-march-8/

Session 10
Student Review and Summative feedback session on the IWD event
This session will provide a review of the course to aid students’ summative essay. We will also undertake a peer review assessment of the IWD event and collectively agree a summative mark for all students for this aspect of the assessment.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Identify and apply key tenets of feminist pedagogy.
• Compare and contrast competing approaches to feminist pedagogy.
• Analyse the feminist pedagogical strategies of different feminist activisms at the local, national and international levels and across different cultural and historical contexts.

Indicative reading list

Ahmed, S. (2009) ‘Embodying Diversity: Problems and Paradoxes for Black Feminists.’ Race, Ethnicity and Education 12(1): 41-52.

Ahmed, S. (2014). ‘Selfcare as Warfare’ feministkilljoys blog
https://feministkilljoys.com/2014/08/25/selfcare-as-warfare/

Amos, V. and Parmar, P. (1984) ‘Challenging Imperial Feminism’, Feminist Review, Autumn 17: 3-19.

Annesley, C. (2012). ‘Campaigning against the Cuts: Gender Equality Movements in Tough Times.’ The Political Quarterly 83(1): 19-23.

Banks, I. (1998) ‘Resistance in Two Acts: Practical and Ideological Implications.’ Feminist Teacher 12(1): 29-39.

Bassel, L. (2017) Why Listen? London: Palgrave.

Combahee River Collective (1977) ‘Combahee River Collective Statement: Black Feminist Organizing in the Seventies and Eighties’ in Moraga, C. and Anzaldua, G. (eds) (1984) This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. New York: Kitchen Table.

Chun, J. J. et al (2013) ‘Intersectionality as a Social Movement Strategy: Asian Immigrant Women Advocates. Signs, 38(4): 917-940.

Crossley, A.D. (2015) ‘Facebook Feminism: Social Media, Blogs and New Technologies of Contemporary US Feminism’, Mobilization, 20(2): 253-268.
Davis, A. Y. (1981) Women, Race and Class. New York: Random House.

Delphy, C. (2015) Separate and Dominate: Feminism and Racism After the War on Terror. London: Verso Books.

Emejulu, A. (2011) 'Can "the People" Be Feminists? Analysing the Fate of Feminist Justice Claims in Populist Grassroots Movements in the United States', Interface: Special Issue on Feminism, Women's Movements and Women in Movements, 3(2): 123-151.

Falola, B. and Ohueri, C.W (2017) ‘Resist, Persist, Desist: Building Solidarity from Grandma Ella through Baby Angela to the Women’s March’, Gender, Place & Culture, 24(5): 1-19.

Hill Collins, P. and S. Bilge (2016) Intersectionality. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Hill Collins, P. (2000) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston: Unwin Hyman.

Hobson, B. (ed) (2003) Recognition Struggles and Social Movements: Contested Identities, Agency and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

hooks, b. (1989) Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston: South End Press.

Hull, G. T., Patricia B. S., and Smith, B. (eds) (1982) All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies. Old Westbury: The Feminist Press.

Kishimoto, K. and Mwangi, M. (2009) ‘Critiquing the Rhetoric of “Safety” in Feminist Pedagogy: Women of Color Offering an Account of Ourselves’, Feminist Teacher, 19(2): 87-102.

Lewis, M. M. (2011) ‘Body of Knowledge: Black Queer Feminist Pedagogy, Praxis, and Embodied Text’, Journal of Lesbian Studies, 15(1): 49-57.

Lorde, A. (2017) Your Silence Will Not Protect You. London: Silver Press.

Lugones, M. (2010) ‘Toward a Decolonial Feminism’. Hypatia, 25(4): 742-759.

Moraga, C. and Anzaldua, G. (eds) (1984) This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. New York: Kitchen Table.

Mirza, H.S. (1997) Black British Feminism: A Reader. London: Routledge.

Payne, C. (1989) ‘Ella Baker and Models of Social Change’, Signs, 14(4): 885-898.

Ransby, B. (2003) Ella Baker and The Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Sudbury, J. (1998) Other Kinds of Dreams: Black Women’s Organisations and the Politics of Transformation. Routledge: London.

Tormos, F. (2017) ‘Intersectional Solidarity’, Politics, Groups, and Identities, 5(4): 707-720.

Yuval-Davis, N. (2012) The Politics of Belonging: Intersectional Contestations. London: Sage

Subject specific skills

Communication
Team work
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Time management

Transferable skills

Communication
Team work
Critical thinking
Problem solving
Time management