Transformation from Within
Practicing Global Education through Critical Feminist Pedagogy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v18i3.1704Keywords:
Critical pedagogy, global experiential learning, Tanzania, feminist geographyAbstract
This paper examines the transformative role of critical feminist pedagogy as it applies to global experiential learning. I argue that a feminist approach to global education challenges racialized, neoliberal, and colonizing dimensions of higher education. Global experiential learning provides the basis for an interactive or relational form of critical feminist pedagogy within cross-cultural and transnational communities. The methodology for this research is grounded in decolonizing and feminist pedagogies that address multiple levels of engagement within the education process and among students, faculty, and communities. This discussion demonstrates how critical feminist pedagogy effectively addresses societal issues concerning power, privilege, and knowledge production that are evident in the context of rising populism and nativism in the U.S. The analysis in this paper includes a case study of a global experiential learning program in which university students worked with community-based organizations in rural Tanzania. Their pre-departure orientation, assignments, field-based learning, and overall experiences are examined in light of this pedagogical approach. In sum, this pedagogical analysis demonstrates how transnational and feminist practices provide effective ways to construct decolonizing engagement and community-based learning in global education.
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Newman, L. Caitlin. 2011. Legal and societal injustice: Gender inequality and land rights in Tanzania. Pittsburgh Political Review 3, 22–39.
Oberhauser, Ann M. 2007. Feminist pedagogy: Incorporating diversity and praxis in the classroom. In, Pamela Moss & Karen Falconer Al-Hindi (eds.), Feminisms in Geography: Rethinking Space, Place, and Knowledges, New York: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 215–220.
Oberhauser, Ann and Rita Daniels. 2017. Unpacking global service-learning in developing contexts: A case study from rural Tanzania. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. 21(4), 139–170.
Parsi, Laura (with Lynn Thornton). 2013. Connecting the local with the global: Transnational feminism and civic engagement. Feminist Teacher 22(3), 214–232.
Rose, Gillian. 1997. Situating knowledges: Positionality, reflexivities and other tactics. Progress in Human Geography 21(3), 305–20.
Schroeder, Kathleen, Cynthia Wood, Shari Galiardi, and Jenny Koehn. 2009. First, do no harm: Ideas for mitigating negative community impacts of short-term study abroad. Journal of Geography 108, 141–147.
Slaughter, Sheila and Gary Rhoades. 2004. Academic Capitalism and the New Economy: Markets, State, and Higher Education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. New York: Zed Books.
Sudbury, Julia and Margo Okazawa-Ray (eds.). 2009. Activist Scholarship: Antiracism, Feminism, and Social Change. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Sultana, Farhana. 2018. The false equivalence of academic freedom and free speech: Defending academic integrity in the age of white supremacy, colonial nostalgia, and anti-intellectuals. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies 17(2), 228–257.
University of Kentucky Critical Pedagogy Working Group, Mott, Carrie, Sandra Zupan, Anne-Marie Debbané, and R. L. 2015. Making space for critical pedagogy in the neoliberal university: struggles and possibilities. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 14(4), 1260–1282.
Wenger, Etienne. 1999. Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning and Community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ahmed, Sara. 2017. Living a Feminist Life. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Bringle, Robert G., Julie A. Hatcher, and Steven G. Jones (eds.) 2011. International Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Research. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Chatterjee, Piya. 2009. Transforming pedagogies: Imagining internationalist/feminist/antiracist literacies. In, Julia Sudbury and Margo Okazawa-Rey (eds.), Activist Scholarship: Antiracism, Feminism, and Social Change. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, pp. 131–48.
Crabtree, Robbin D. 2008. Theoretical foundations for international service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning 15(1), 18–36.
David, Miriam and Sue Clegg. 2008. Power, pedagogy and personalization in global higher education: The occlusion of second-wave feminism? Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 29(4), 483–98.
Freire, Paulo. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.
Gilbert, Melissa and Michele Masucci. 2004. Feminist praxis in university-community partnerships. In, David Fuller and Rob Kitchin (eds.), Radical Theory/Critical Praxis: Making a Difference Beyond the Academy? Victoria, BC: Praxis (e) Press, pp. 147–58.
Gökariksel, Banu. 2017. The body politics of Trump’s “Muslim ban.” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 13(3), 469–471.
Gökariksel, Banu and Sara Smith. 2017. Intersectional feminism beyond U.S. flag hijab and pussy hats in Trump’s America. Gender, Place & Culture 24(5), 628–644.
Haraway, Donna. 1996. Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. In, John Agnew, David Livingstone and Alisdair Rogers (eds.), Human Geography: An Essential Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 108–128.
Hartman, Eric. 2016. Fair Trade Learning: A framework for ethical global partnerships. In, Marianne A. Larson (ed.), International Service Learning: Engaging Host Communities. New York: Routledge, pp. 215–234.
Hartman, Eric and Richard Kiely. 2014. A critical global citizenship. In, Patrick M. Green and Mathew Johnson (eds.), Crossing Boundaries: Tension and Transformation in International Service-Learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus.ed, pp. 215–42.
Heyman, Rich. 2007. “Who’s going to man the factories and be the sexual slaves if we all get PhDs?” Democratizing knowledge production, pedagogy, and the Detroit Geographical Expedition and Institute. Antipode 39(1), 99–120.
hooks, bell. 1995. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge.
Illich, Ivan. 1968. The Hell with Good Intentions. New York: The Commission on Voluntary Service & Action.
Iyer, Pico. 2000. Why We Travel. Salon. http://picoiyerjourneys.com/index.php/2000/03/why-we-travel/. Accessed February 11, 2019.
Kobayashi, Audrey, Victoria Lawson, and Rickie Sanders. 2014. A commentary on the whitening of the public university: The context of diversifying geography. The Professional Geographer 66(2), 230–235.
Korvajärvi, Päivi and Jaana Vuori. 2016. A classroom of our own: Transforming interdisciplinarity locally. Women’s Studies International Forum 54, 138–146.
Laliberté, Nicole, Alison Bain, Greg Lankenau, Michele Bolduc, Ann Mansson McGinty, and Kristin Sziarto. 2017. The controversy capital of stealth feminism in higher education. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 16(1), 34–58.
Langdon, Jonathan. 2013. Decolonising development studies: Reflections on critical pedagogies in action. Canadian Journal of Development Studies 34(3), 384–399.
Larsen, Marianne A. (ed.). 2016. International Service Learning: Engaging Host Communities. New York: Routledge.
Liamputtong, Pranee. 2010. Performing Qualitative Cross-Cultural Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Luke, Carmen, and Jennifer Gore. (eds.). 1992. Feminisms and Critical Pedagogy. New York: Routledge.
Maher, Frances and Mary Kay T. Tetreault. 2011. Long-term transformations: Excavating privilege and diversity in the academy. Gender and Education 23(3), 281–297.
Mahtani, Minelle. 2006. Challenging the ivory tower: proposing anti-racist geographies within the academy. Gender, Place, and Culture 13(1), 21–25.
Martin, Gregory and Tony Brown. 2013. Out of the box: Making space for everyday critical pedagogies. The Canadian Geographer 57(3), 381–388.
Massey, Doreen. 2005. For Space. London: Sage.
Mohanty, Chandra T. 2002. “Under western eyes” revisited: Feminist solidarity through anticapitalist struggles. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 28(2), 499–535.
Mohanty, Chandra T., Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres (eds.). 1991. Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Moss, Panela and Avril Maddrell. 2017. Emergent and divergent spaces in the Women’s March: The challenges of intersectionality and inclusion. Gender, Place & Culture 24(5), 613–620.
Mountz, Alison, Anne Bonds, Becky Mansfield, Jenna Loyd, Jennifer Hyndman, Margaret Walton-Roberts, Ranu Basu, Risa Whitson, Roberta Hawkins, Trina Hamilton, and Winifred Curran. 2015. For slow scholarship: A feminist politics of resistance through collective action in the neoliberal university. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 14(4), 1235–1259.
Newman, L. Caitlin. 2011. Legal and societal injustice: Gender inequality and land rights in Tanzania. Pittsburgh Political Review 3, 22–39.
Oberhauser, Ann M. 2007. Feminist pedagogy: Incorporating diversity and praxis in the classroom. In, Pamela Moss & Karen Falconer Al-Hindi (eds.), Feminisms in Geography: Rethinking Space, Place, and Knowledges, New York: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 215–220.
Oberhauser, Ann and Rita Daniels. 2017. Unpacking global service-learning in developing contexts: A case study from rural Tanzania. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. 21(4), 139–170.
Parsi, Laura (with Lynn Thornton). 2013. Connecting the local with the global: Transnational feminism and civic engagement. Feminist Teacher 22(3), 214–232.
Rose, Gillian. 1997. Situating knowledges: Positionality, reflexivities and other tactics. Progress in Human Geography 21(3), 305–20.
Schroeder, Kathleen, Cynthia Wood, Shari Galiardi, and Jenny Koehn. 2009. First, do no harm: Ideas for mitigating negative community impacts of short-term study abroad. Journal of Geography 108, 141–147.
Slaughter, Sheila and Gary Rhoades. 2004. Academic Capitalism and the New Economy: Markets, State, and Higher Education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. New York: Zed Books.
Sudbury, Julia and Margo Okazawa-Ray (eds.). 2009. Activist Scholarship: Antiracism, Feminism, and Social Change. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Sultana, Farhana. 2018. The false equivalence of academic freedom and free speech: Defending academic integrity in the age of white supremacy, colonial nostalgia, and anti-intellectuals. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies 17(2), 228–257.
University of Kentucky Critical Pedagogy Working Group, Mott, Carrie, Sandra Zupan, Anne-Marie Debbané, and R. L. 2015. Making space for critical pedagogy in the neoliberal university: struggles and possibilities. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 14(4), 1260–1282.
Wenger, Etienne. 1999. Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning and Community. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Published
2019-06-24
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Oberhauser, A. (2019). Transformation from Within: Practicing Global Education through Critical Feminist Pedagogy. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 18(3), 751–767. https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v18i3.1704
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