Gendered and sexed geographies of/in a graduate classroom

Catherine J. Nash

doi:10.5565/rev/dag.863

Gendered and sexed geographies of/in a graduate classroom

Authors

Catherine J. Nash Brock University. Department of Geography

PDF

Abstract

Over 20 years ago, feminist and radical geographers urged members of the discipline to critically engage with questions of gender and sexuality in our research, in academic life and in the classroom. Classrooms, as geographical spaces are gendered, classed and sexualized in particular ways within power relations. Drawing on contemporary feminist pedagogies in geography, I critically reflect on an unexpected situation that arose in a North Ame - rican Graduate course on social justice issues. In written course evaluations, student comments reflected a particularly gendered and sexualised set of expectations that stemmed, in part, from the nature of the classroom setting and the course content. In this paper, I examine how my experiences in this course illustrate that attempts to «gender», «sex» and «queer» the geography classroom have met with successes and setbacks that reflect particular historical and contextual circumstances.

Keywords

feminism, pedagogy, queer theory, LGBTQ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Queer), feminist geography, sexuality

References

BELL, D. (1997). «Sex lives and audiotape: geography, sexuality and undergraduate dissertations». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 21 (3), 411-431.

BELL, D. and VALENTINE, G. (eds.) (1995). Mapping Desire: Geographies of Sexuality. London: Routledge.

BINNIE, J. (1997). «Coming out of geography: towards a queer epistemology?». Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 15, 223-237.

BONDI, L. (2004). «Power dynamics in feminist classrooms: making the most of inequalities?». In: SHARP, J.; THEIN, D. and BROWNE, K. (eds.). Gender and Geography: 20 Years On. Glasgow: Women in Geography Study Group, 175-182.

BRISKIN, L. (1994). «Feminist pedagogy: teaching and learning liberation». In: ERWIN, L. and MACLENNAN, D. (eds.). Sociology of education in Canada: critical perspectives on theory, research and practice. Toronto: Copp Clark Longman, 443-470.

BROUGHTON, T. L. and POTTS, L. (2001). «Dissonant voices: the teachers “personal” in women’s studies». Gender and Education, 13 (4), 373-385.

BROWNE, K. (2004). «Genderism and the bathroom problem: (re)materialising sexed sites, (re)creating sexed bodies». Gender, Place and Culture, 11, 331-346.

BROWNE, K. (2005). «Placing the Personal in Pedagogy: Engaged pedagogy in “feminist” geographical teaching». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 29 (3), 339-354.

CASTELLS, M. (1983). The City and the Grass Roots: a cross cultural theory of urban social movements. London: Edward Arnold.

CHOUINARD, V. and GRANT, A. (1995). «On being not even anywhere near “the project”: ways of putting ourselves in the picture». Antipode, 27, 137-166.

CRANE, D. (1995). «A Personal postscript». In: GALLUP, Jane. Pedagogy: The question of impersonation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

ELDER, G. (1999). «“Queerying” boundaries in the geography classroom». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 23, 86-93.

ENGLAND, K. (1999). «Sexing geography, teaching sexualities». Journal of Geography for Higher Education, 23 (1), 94-101.

JACKSON, P. (1989). «Gender and sexuality». In: Maps of Meaning: An Introduction to Cultural Geography. Boston: Unwin Hyman.

KNOPP, L. (1999). «Out in academia: The queer politics of one geographer’s sexualisation». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 23, 116-123.

KHAYATT, M. (1992). «Lesbian Teachers: an invisible presence». New York: State University of New York Press.

LONGHURST, R. (2001). Bodies: Exploring Fluid Boundaries. London: Routledge.

MCDOWELL, L. (1992). «Engendering change: curriculum transformation in human geography». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 16, 185-197.

MCDOWELL, L. (1997). «Women/gender/feminisms: Doing feminist geography». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 21 (3), 381-400.

MONK, J. (1985). «Feminist transformation: how can it be accomplished?». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 9 (1), 101-105.

MONK, J. and HANSON, S. (1982). «On not excluding half of the human in human geography». Professional Geographer, 34, 1-23.

MOSS, P. and MCMAHON, M. (2000). «Between flake and a strident bitch: making “it” count in the academy». Resources for Feminist Research, 28, 15-34.

MOSS, P.; DEBRES, K.J.; CRAVEY, A.; HYNDMAN, J.U.; HIRSCHBOECK, K.K. and MASUCCI, M. (1999). «Toward mentoring as feminist praxis: strategies for ourselves and others». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 23 (3), p. 413-427.

NAIRN, K. (1999). «Embodied fieldwork». Journal of Geography, 98 (6), 272-282.

NASH, C. J. and BAIN, A. (2007). «“Reclaiming raunch”: spatializing queer identities at Toronto women’s bathhouse events». Social and Cultural Geography, 8 (1), 16-42.

NAST, H. (1999). «“Sex”, “race”, and multiculturalism: critical consumption and the politics of course evaluation». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 23, 102-115.

OBERHAUSER, A. (2002). «Examining Gender and Community Through Critical Pedagogy». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 26 (1), 19-31.

OVERALL, C. (1998). A Feminist I: Reflections in Academia. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.

POSITIVE SPACE CAMPAIGN (2007). www.brocku.ca/human-rights/positive-space. http://www.brocku.ca/humanrights (Last accessed June 11, 2010).

RHOADS, R.A. (1994). Coming Out in College: The Struggle for a Queer Identity. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.

ROCCO, T. and GALLAGHER, S. (2006). «Straight privilege and moral/izing: Issues in career development». New directions for Adult and Continuing education, 112, 29-39.

ROSE, G. (1993). Feminism and Geography: the Limits of Geographical Knowledge. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

RUST, P. (1994). «Designing a course on sexuality: issues problems and parameters». Critical Sociology, 20, 155-168.

SKELTON, T. (1997). «Issues of sexuality in the teaching space». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 21 (3), 424-431.

SOLEM, M. and FOOTE, K. (2008). «Concerns, Attitudes, and Abilities of Early-Career Geography Faculty». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30 (2), 199-234.

STATHAM, A.; RICHARDSON, L. and COOK, J.A. (1991). Gender and University Teaching. Albany, NY: Suny Press.

STRYKER, S. and WHITTLE, S. (eds.) (2006). The Transgender Studies Reader. York and London: Routledge.

VALENTINE, G. (1997). «Ode to a geography teacher: sexuality and the classroom». Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 21, 417-424.

WEBBER, M. (2005). «“Don’t be so feminist”: Exploring student resistance to feminist approaches in a Canadian university». Women’s Studies International Forum, 28, 181-194.

WEBBER, M. (2006). «Transgressive pedagogies? Exploring the difficult realities of enacting feminist pedagogies in undergraduate classrooms in a Canadian university». Studies in Higher Education, 31 (40), 453-467.

WEIGHTMAN, B. (1980). «Gay bars as private places». Landscape, 24, 9-16.

WEIGHTMAN, B. (1981). «Towards a geography of the gay community». Journal of Cultural Geography, 1, 106-112.