Feminist methodologies and engineering education research

This paper introduces feminist methodologies in the context of engineering education research. It builds upon other recent methodology articles in engineering education journals and presents feminist research methodologies as a concrete engineering education setting in which to explore the connections between epistemology, methodology and theory. The paper begins with a literature review that covers a broad range of topics featured in the literature on feminist methodologies. Next, data from interviews with engineering educators and researchers who have engaged with feminist methodologies are presented. The ways in which feminist methodologies shape their research topics, questions, frameworks of analysis, methods, practices and reporting are each discussed. The challenges and barriers they have faced are then discussed. Finally, the benefits of further and broader engagement with feminist methodologies within the engineering education community are identified.     

Empowering Students in a Feminist Social Work Practice Course

Abstract

Since 1993, a faculty collective has team-taught a feminist social work practice course. The course, designed to heighten student knowledge of feminist practice, was expected to empower students. An overview of the course is presented with an analysis of its impact on student perceptions of personal and professional power. Pre and post measures of empowerment were analyzed and used to derive outcome measures of change in student views of themselves as empowered persons and practitioners. Findings indicate that students had significantly higher perceptions of their personal and professional power upon completion of the feminist practice course than before. Implications for social work students and practitioners are discussed.     

Unfolding possibilities through a decolonizing project: Indigenous knowledges and rural Japanese women

Rural Japanese women have been overlooked or misrepresented in the academic and nationalist discourses on Japanese women. Using an anti‐colonial feminist framework, I advocate that centring discussions on Indigenous knowledges will help fill this gap based on the belief that Indigenous‐knowledge framework is a tool to show the agency of the ‘colonized’. In this paper, I attempt to answer the following question: What is the role of Indigenous knowledges in the context of rural Japanese women? I first discuss my epistemological approach by exploring the notion of Indigenous knowledges and my location within it. This process led me to employ autoethnography as the central methodology of this paper. Second, in order to better situate rural Japanese women, I look at Japanese history, especially the Meiji period (1868–1912) when Westernization began to exert a major influence on the Japanese nationalist movement via its control over knowledges carried by rural Japanese women. Third, in order for me to reclaim these subjugated Indigenous knowledges, I introduce my lived experience through autoethnography as a starting point to explore the possibilities that lie in the Indigenous‐knowledge framework. Fourth, I further discuss the interlocking nature of the issues surrounding nationalism, representation, knowledge production and identity emerging from the discussion on rural Japanese women and my reflexive text. This leads us to an assessment of how an Indigenous‐knowledge framework may shift discussions/perceptions of rural Japanese women in particular. Lastly, I conclude by noting the potential implications and applications of further research on this topic in other parts of the world.     

A disrupting darkness: youth resistance as racial wisdom

This article considers what resistance accomplishes for a peer group of young women of color attending an urban high school in 2001, and from a perspective 10 years later in 2011. Their resistance is deeply racial yet troubles categorical race, nurtures new solidarities through old ethnicities, and sustains a network with important material value for its members over the years. I call such resistance, rooted in a deep racial epistemology rather than the surface structure of race, a disrupting darkness.     

Fit and phat: Black college women and their relationship with physical activity,obesity and campus recreation facilities

The purpose of this paper was to recognize factors that contribute to Black female college students adoption of physically active behaviors. In addition, this paper acknowledges the prevalence of obesity in the United States for Black women, and examines the relationship between body mass index, physical activity and use of campus recreation facilities and programs. The study is approached from an intersectionality lens, utilizing a quantitative and qualitative questionnaire to capture and analyze the perceptions and voice of Black female undergraduate students (n=49) attending a predominantly White institution in the southeast United States. Recognizing the intersectionality of race, gender and class, employing the theoretical frame of Black feminist thought was appropriate to capture the ‘multiple jeopardies’ in their daily experiences. The findings revealed 75.5% of the participants were in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for physical activity; however, 77.1% utilize the campus recreation facility fewer than two days per week. Moreover, the findings suggest the sociocultural environment as the most influential factor on Black female collegiate students’ relationship with physical activity, obesity awareness and campus recreation facility usage.     

‘Wow,this is where I'm supposed to be!’ Rethinking gender construction in teacher recruitment 1

This paper focuses on how understanding male gendered ways of experiencing the teaching profession might help us address the current shortage of male diversity in teaching. The study discusses the factors that may influence males to enter teaching and proposes the possibility of considering the participation of males in teaching as a way to contribute to education without essentialising notions of gender, but rather by acknowledging the gendered experience of becoming and being a teacher. An analysis of interviews with male teachers and teacher candidates indicates that the most salient aspect that drove the male participants into teaching is their desire to give back to the community and to promote social justice. The author thus proposes a set of guiding directions for how to begin the process of rethinking gender construction and attracting males into the teaching profession in a way that addresses gender balance and teaching quality.     

现代西方图书馆女性职业研究综述

图书馆是女性从业者较集中的行业,其中女性馆员的职业发展状况关系到整个图书馆事业的发展。文章以女权主义为视角,从职业管理、职业生涯规划和教育培训、职业平等和女性事业与家庭平衡问题四个方面,对国外女性职业发展研究的现状进行了综述,希望对我国相关领域研究给予一些启示。     

张翎小说研究述评——海外华文女性文学研究的一种思路

近年海外华文女性文学创作不断活跃,张翎无疑成为其中的重要代表性作家。因此,对张翎创作的研究也日渐形成规模。张翎的创作,特别是在文本意义上自成一体,对此做出一个基本的述评,应该是对近年不断活跃起来的海外华文女性文学创作及其研究一个无不裨益的回应和思考。     

文本内外的阐释--关于张洁及《无字》的讨论

作为张洁文本所提供的破碎的女性经验、被放大的宗教化的母性经验、紧张的性爱经验,是一百年来在被动现代化的处境里中国式现代经验的呈现.关于这一问题,首都师范大学举行了一次讨论会,在“概念、经验、实践“三位一体的认知体系中,进行一次有益的探索.