Just us, just discussing: imagined homogeneities in the Gender Studies classroom

Summary, in English

This article explores practices of othering through formations of normative sameness in discussion-based seminar classrooms. It takes literary scholar Stanley Fish’s question, ‘Is there a text in this class, or is it just us?’, back into the classroom to explore the formation of a ‘just us,’ an imagined homogeneous interpretive community which, I argue, has discriminatory effects by normalising

some voices and practices. It draws on feminist and anti-oppressive theory to discuss ways to pedagogically trouble the enactment of homogeneous interpretive communities in the Gender Studies classroom. As the Gender Studies teacher, I devised pedagogical practices based on the allocation of specific roles as a way to work towards an anti-discriminatory classroom by demystifying academic practice and framing seminar practice as a social genre. The article critically reflects on students’ subsequent reluctance to take on roles and

their preference for free-flowing discussions, doing what comes naturally, a ‘doing’ of academia which, I suggest, is linked to social privilege.

• Author: Lena Karlsson
• Department/s: Department of Gender Studies
• Publishing year: 2015
• Language: English
• Pages: 654-665
• Publication/Series: Gender and Education
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 6
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2015.1078874
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Topic: Gender Studies
• Keywords: interpretive communities; imagined homogeneity; the seminar classroom; genre; anti-oppressive pedagogy
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1360-0516