Feminist Teaching Conference

Feminism and Teaching Symposium
8th – 9th April 2011 University of Nottingham

This is a two-day interdisciplinary postgraduate symposium that will explore the relationships between feminism and teaching.

Keynote workshops/sessions by: Professor Gina Wisker (Brighton), Professor Sara Mills (Sheffield Hallam) and Dr. Louise Mullany (Nottingham), Professor Ruth Holliday (Leeds), Dr. Ben Brabon (Edge Hill), Annette Foster (Performance Artist).

Postgraduates, early career researchers, teachers, artists and activists of all genders are invited to propose sessions engaging with issues relating to feminism and teaching.

This symposium aims to bring together people from a wide variety of disciplines and contexts to explore the ways in which these two fields relate to each other and the ways in which each term strengthens and/or troubles the other.

Proposed topics could include:

* Teaching feminist theory and practice
* Introducing feminism into the school, F.E. and undergraduate classroom
* Overcoming ‘gender-blind’ syllabuses
* Consciousness raising activities outside the classroom
* Ways in which gender intersects with other discourses, like race, age and class in teaching activities
* The impact of context on teaching activities and materials
* Feminist pedagogy and modes of teaching
* Ways in which feminism can inform research and teaching across the disciplines
* Feminisms plural
* Ways in which feminism changes, alters/is altered, and is deployed in the classroom setting
* Gender-Biases in perceptions of feminism
* Men and feminist teaching practices
* Reclamation of women’s language and experiences
* Reclaiming the feminist agenda
* Ways of teaching gender sensitive matierials and associated difficulties e.g.: women’s writing, sociological data, everyday life, media, popular culture, legal and political theory and practice
* Any other issue related to feminism and teaching

We welcome presentation and session proposals which engage with the relationships between feminism and teaching, from various disciplines, including but not limited to: Sociology, Education, Literature, Visual and Performing Arts, Cultural Studies, Applied Linguistics, Law, Gender Studies and Women’s Studies. We also welcome proposals from people working in areas relating to feminism and teaching outside the academy.

Presenters are encouraged to engage with these issues in a way that reflects the material being discussed. We would like to include a diversity of presentation styles, but we are particularly keen to encourage interactive sessions, including short film screenings, musical and dramatic performances, workshops, presentations about ongoing projects or works in progress, demonstrations, discussion sessions, or any other format conducive to exploring the relationships between feminism and teaching.

Presenters will be allocated a 30-minute slot, which can be used by the presenter as they wish, but must include at least 5 minutes for audience questions/discussion.

Possible presentations could look like the following:

‘Raising consciousness in the local community’
15 min – Interactive puppet theatre
5 min – Presenter talk
10 min – Q&A

‘Men teaching feminism’
15 min – Presenter talk
15 min – Interactive strategy session

‘Feminist teaching in “gender-blind” subjects’
5 min – Presenter talk
15 min – Interactive comparison of syllabuses
10 min – Group discussion

We also welcome poster presentations on any issues/topics relating to the theme.
Posters will be displayed throughout the symposium.

Please send proposals of 200-300 words, along with a brief biography (50 words) to feminismandteaching@nottingham.ac.uk by 20th November 2010. If you would like to discuss your proposal before submitting it please do contact us. We are particularly interested in encouraging sessions which break from the traditional academic format.

For more information please visit our website: http://feminismandteaching.org