After the 1980s
many feminists working in the field of education turned to postmodernism or
poststructuralism with the effect of Foucault and his analysis of power
relations (Kenway & Modra, 1992, Sinacore & Enns, 2005). Postmoderns
and poststructuralists are critical of the modernist project that has its roots
in Enlightenment. They claim that this mode of thinking is based on binary
oppositions or dualisms and argue that it cannot be used for liberation.
Postmodern feminists are distinguished by their emphasis on
the diversity among women. However, they were not the first group of feminists
to highlight diversity issues. Black feminists and lesbian feminists had
already problematized the various positions women occupy and different forms of
subordination they face in society. They brought into the picture other kinds
of subordination women experience and the ways these different subordinations
fragment women. They work on class, gender and ethnicity relationships and the
ways they are related to power. They demand that the pupils learn about the
ways they themselves are subordinated and subordinate others and thus gain an
awareness of the power relations. The ways that power works in women’s everyday
lives are analyzed. This kind of an analysis reveals the ways female pupils
receive contradictory messages in different contexts.
Their emphasis on subjective positions of subordination leads
to micro studies on the everyday life of women, which might be left unlinked to
macro level studies. However, they problematize the relationships among structures
and individuals. For them language is a central issue and the use of discourse
analysis as well as deconstruction is a common tool of analysis. The aim is to
deconstruct the dominant structures and to abolish the binary oppositions such
as men - women, emotion – mind, which appeared in historical process. Their
problematics are production of knowledge, source of knowledge, what counts as
knowledge, voice, authority and subjectivities of individual (Tissdell, 1998).
There are postmodern feminists who claim that for political reasons macro
theories still need to be occupied for the benefit of women.
The focus on subjectivity, difference, and deconstruction of
identities is a threat to social movements such as feminism. By deconstructing
the category of women they make social struggle impossible. Some postmodern
feminists, such as Lather and Tissdell (Tissdell, 1998,
Weiler, 1988) share the same worry and argue for feminist postmodernisms of
resistance. Postmodernism is not based on social movement but generated among
academicians and thus lacks the goal of social transformation. Giroux (1991) is
of the idea that feminism provided postmodernism with a politics.
Poststructural feminists present a detailed analysis of
critical and feminist pedagogies[1]. For them elimination of sex stereotyping and
gender bias in the curriculum, which is suggested by critical and feminist
pedagogies, is a superficial solution to subordination of girls and ignores
their agency. This is linked to their idea that “ as teacher, student and
knowledge interact, knowledge is produced, negotiated and transformed”
(Kenway& Modra, 1992: 143).
The theories that relate the school and its functions to the
society are presented in this chapter. Although it is necessary to situate it
in the relations in the whole society to understand the inequality, one also
needs to pay attention to the relations and procedures inside the institution.
The next chapter presents theories and research about the internal dynamics of
schools.
[1]
“Feminisms and Critical Pedagogy” edited by Carmen Luke and Jennifer Gore is a
compilation of articles by feminists who position themselves poststructuralist.
Most of the authors in the compilation have previous experiences with critical
pedagogies and later turned to poststructuralism on account of their belief
that it silences diverse groups and women in the classroom.
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