The workshop is motivated by the question: How can feminism be used as a practical, theoretical research resource to develop more just pedagogies? The workshop includes five papers.

Anita Hussénius, Kristina Anderssonand Annica Gullberg: Tensions of applying feminist pedagogy in higher education

Feminist pedagogy in science education should discuss science’s cultural, social and historical dimensions (Barton 1998, Capobianco 2007, Mayberry 1998). While these dimensions of feminist pedagogy have proved advantageous for acquiring subject matter knowledge, they also produce tensions and paradoxes (Sible et al. 2006). This presentation discusses the integration of gender knowledge into science teacher education which provided prospective teachers with the analytical tools to connect with science and science teaching in a non-hierarchical way. It argues that placing the personal and private into the learning process instead of relying on “objective” content and external experiences is a balancing act which needs attention.

Carol Taylor and Rachel Handforth: Diffracting Feminist Journeys in Academia

This paper outlines an experimental material feminist writing encounter between two individuals at different stages of our feminist journeys in higher education: Rachel as a PhD student and Carol as a senior academic. Interweaving diary entries, reflexive narratives, interview data, and methodological ruminations, the paper creates a feminist bricolage of multiple voices which destabilise normalised conventions of academic article writing. This diffractive approach (Barad, 2007) enables us to: expose the materialist tensions in transposing ‘data’ into ‘writing’ and ‘theory’; problematise the linearity of feminist ‘waves’ by considering what unites (and divides) us as feminists; and engage in an innovative practice which reworks dialogic mentoring. 

Helene Götschel: Teaching Queering Physics

The curriculum development project ‘Teaching Queering Physics’ was taught as part of the course ‘Gender and Physics’ for future science teachers and used feminist materialism, queer theory and postcolonial studies as critical theories to explore the culture of physics and knowledge production and how these can be queer friendly (Barad, 2012; Grossman, 2012; Simmons & Barthelmy, 2013). The preservice teachers answered a questionnaire on their understanding of physics knowledge, their attitudes as teachers of “heteronormative facts” or “critical science literacy” in the future classroom, and the possibilities of queering their science classes. The evaluation results show that the aim of teaching queering physics was reached.

Ana Mouraz: How “politics of location” could be used to see differently innovative practices in teaching?

Situated knowledge (Haraway, 1988) and the politics of location are a “materialist acknowledgement of … asymmetrical power differentials [which are] … geopolitical, genealogical and time-bound” (Tuin & Dolphijn, 2010: 158). They are an epistemological and methodological requisite for a non-traditional way of producing science that emphasizes the specificity of the speaking subject, the contingent nature of knowledge and the embodiment of experience (Hinton, 2014). Using these concepts as a departure, this paper discusses an empirical study of the ways five women lecturers in Higher Education embody themselves with an innovative pedagogical practice of multidisciplinary peer observation.

Kathryn Scantlebury: Perhaps We Need A Tsunami? Including the material into feminist praxis, theory and research.

The unfolding of feminist theory, research and pedagogies is described as ‘waves’. The third wave of feminism broke from the second by disregarding dualisms and putting forward multiple perspectives on women’s lives and experiences (Budgeon, 2011). Yet the third wave continues to privilege language and ignore the material. Feminists need to ‘stay with the trouble’ and engage matter into feminist praxis (Hinton & van der Tuin, 2014). Will an engagement with matter renew feminist praxis?  What are the implications for education research and teacher education when matter is viewed as agentic? Does feminism’s engagement with matter mark a transition into a fourth wave?

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