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Since I've largely decided to go into the public education system as a history teacher, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the way that history is taught in perspective to feminism-- I've been thinking a lot about my own public school education and how women in history were portrayed in our still classically-styled education systems.
Maybe I'm just having retroactive paranoia but are women, in particular women in positions of governmental power, judged more harshly in history than their male counterparts? How can we start to gain a more objective perspective on our own understandings of women throughout history? And, more importantly, what would be the best way of injecting feminist philosophy into our perspective on world history?
Book recommendations would be greatly appreciated, as well as any and all opinions.
Maybe I'm just having retroactive paranoia but are women, in particular women in positions of governmental power, judged more harshly in history than their male counterparts? How can we start to gain a more objective perspective on our own understandings of women throughout history? And, more importantly, what would be the best way of injecting feminist philosophy into our perspective on world history?
Book recommendations would be greatly appreciated, as well as any and all opinions.
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Re: Feminism As Applied To Teaching
Wed, February 7, 2007 - 10:03 AMCaleb, these are really excellent questions. I am going to ask some Historian friends if there is any recommended reading on this subject as I would like to read about it as well. I'll report back. -
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Re: Feminism As Applied To Teaching
Wed, February 7, 2007 - 11:23 AMHi Caleb,
Some things that I teach, that are reasonably accessible to students, fun to read, and give good perspectives of women in history and literature are Inanna:Queen of Heaven and Earth (one of the very first epics), Gilgamesh, an adventure story about boys but with several female characters as forces of civilization, (from 2500 BC or so), Christine de Pizan's Book of the City of Ladies (14th century)--powerful, interesting stories about women or representing femininity in some ways that seem unusual to us now.
I'm not sure that I can address some largish Way Feminism is Taught. I'm not sure that there is a single way or method or curriculum. But there are definitely ways of teaching feminism, even within traditional educational structures--simply by supplying historical and literary evidence that proves that women played complex roles at various points in history--sometimes enjoying more authority than we give them credit for, and sometimes wielding a very different sort of authority (sexual, for instance) than we deem allowable today.
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Re: Feminism As Applied To Teaching
Wed, February 7, 2007 - 12:32 PMCaleb, i can tell you what i did for Native American studies, which is something i wanted to add to my history classes.
I would bring in as many works as i could find BY NA, rather than *about* them.
people who write *about* women, or *about* slaves, or *about* the working class, tend to have a perspective that maintians sterotypes, that reduces the "subject" to "object" and infact often dehumanizes them to "class" or "situation".
There are many female voices out there you can bring to the table. Zora Neal Hurston, the writings of Emile Dickenson and discuss it in historical context, Alcott, Austin, Sand, Wilder, etc. can all bring views of women in history, cause these women were writing about their own lives.
classiclit.about.com/od/wome...ters.htm -
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Re: Feminism As Applied To Teaching
Sat, February 10, 2007 - 3:01 PMWhat a beautiful question, and I am heartened to know that this perspective is on your mind. Besides these fabulous offerrings from other post-ers, I would also suggest the opportunity to name the elephant in the room when you are looking at 'traditional' histories - like saying something like : let's keep in mind as we study this that this information is mainly eurocentric, patriarchical, and upper class. I think just naming what is being presented can be helpful in contextualizing the limited perspective we take vantage from. Maybe you already do this, and that would also be a beautiful thing. Thanks for your time and your thoughts.
JLuV -
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Re: Feminism As Applied To Teaching
Mon, February 12, 2007 - 11:21 AMOh, nice (obvious, but that's always teh elephant's issue, isn't it) consideration.
I think i forget all teh time to make that simple comment, when studying "indian" history in class; and i'm supposed to be talking about this very thing. :-) elephants indeed -
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Re: Feminism As Applied To Teaching
Sat, February 17, 2007 - 3:47 PMYes, it's hard to remember, especially with so much thought going into being conscientious about what is being offered to others, the implied get's denied and then it becomes invisible! It's also a good idea when offering information from cultures outside ones own experience to name that too!
We keep learning and growing and getting better all the time! How marvelous!
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