Teaching "Race" with a Gendered Edge

How to deal with gender, women, gender roles, feminism and gender equality in teaching practices? Following in the footsteps of the ATHENA thematic network, ATGENDER brings together specialists in women’s and gender studies, feminist research, women’s rights, gender equality and diversity. In the book series ‘Teaching with Gender’ the partners in this network have collected articles on a wide range of teaching practices in the field of gender. The books in this series address challenges and possibilities of teaching about women and gender in a wide range of educational contexts. The authors discuss pedagogical, theoretical and political dimensions of learning and teaching about women and gender. The books contain teaching material, reflections on feminist pedagogies, and practical discussions about the development of gender-sensitive curricula in specific fields. All books address the crucial aspects of education in Europe today: increasing international mobility, the growing importance of interdisciplinarity, and the many practices of life-long learning and training that take place outside the traditional programmes of higher education. These books will be indispensable tools for educators who take seriously the challenge of teaching with gender. Teaching “Race” with a Gendered Edge responds to the need to approach the idea of race from a feminist perspective. This collection of essays aims to broaden our understanding of both race and gender by highlighting the intersections and intertwinedness of race, gender, and other axes of inequality. The book also points to the importance of taking colonial legacies into account when it comes to the understanding of contemporary forms of racisms. In an increasingly globalised and interconnected world this perspective is essential for understanding the dynamics of identity politics but also for pointing towards possible ways of intervention and change. The essays in the book discuss historically contextualised examples of the intersections of race and gender from different localities in Europe and beyond and provide readers with a rich body of resources and teaching material.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Teaching “Race” with a Gendered Edge—Introduction Kristín Loftsdóttir and Brigitte Hipfl Racism and gender—historical background Colonial legacies and migration Problematising “white” Western feminism and whiteness Spaces of / for change The chapters in the book PART I: THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS Chapter 1: Breaking the Canon? Critical Reflections on “Other” Literary Traditions Sandra Ponzanesi Introduction Towards an alternative canon: Multiculturalism and diversity The canon and the cultural industry Race, gender and diversity in the canon: Toni Morrison Beloved Conclusion: Beyond the colour-line of the canon? Implications for teaching Questions Assignments Chapter 2: Monumental Dresses: Coming to Terms with Racial Repression Rosemarie Buikema Sexual difference and transitional justice The woman who kept silent The poetics of scrap Implications for teaching: Working with exemplary case studies Questions Assignments Chapter 3: Embodying Otherness while Teaching Race and Gender at White European Universities Ellis Jonker Introduction Becoming educated in (post)colonial European society Teaching about emotionally charged topics Implications for teaching Questions Assignments PART II: EXPRESSIONS OF RACISM AND GENDER IN NATIONAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXTS Chapter 4: Disappearing Act: The Forgotten History of Colonialism, Eugenics and Gendered Othering in Denmark Bolette Blaagaard and Rikke Andreassen • The colonial relationship that never was • Identifying the difference-gene • Exhibiting exclusion • “Religion is not a race” • Implications for teaching • Questions • Assignments Chapter 5: Portugal and the Empire: Discourses and Practices on Race and Gender 97 Elsa Peralta and Simone Frangella • Grasping Portuguese colonial “exception” • Racial-gendered relations in imperial history • The making of the “gentler colonialists” • Post-colonial reverberations • Implications for teaching • Questions • Assignments Chapter 6: The French Ban on Headscarves: Rendering Racism Respectable Erzsébet Barát and Ebru Sungun • Introduction • Situating the 2004 Act • Civilising the “uncivilised” • Gendering the colonial other • Feminist critique of the ban: “Une École pour Tous et pour Toutes” • Concluding remarks • Implications for teaching • Questions and assignments Chapter 7: Racial/Ethnic Otherness in Polish Public Discourse Aleksandra M. Różalska • Conceptualising the racial other in Polish culture • The ethnic and religious composition of Polish society: • An historical perspective • Legal framework • Cultural racism • Towards the future • Implications for teaching • Questions • Assignments Chapter 8: “Not a Country for Women, nor for Blacks”: Teaching Race and Gender in Italy between Colonial Heritages and New Perspectives Manuela Coppola and Sonia Sabelli • Marketing the “other” • “Second generations” and the role of education • New perspectives: Teaching race and gender today • Implications for teaching • Questions • Assignments List of Contributors

About the Author :
Brigitte Hipfl is Associate Professor of Media Studies at the Department of Media and Communication Studies at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Kristín Loftsdóttir is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iceland.