The Feminist Classroom ─ Dynamics of Gender, Race, and Privilege

Maher (education, Wheaton College) and Tetreault (an administrator, Portland State University) discuss the role of feminist politics, theory, and pedagogy in the contemporary classroom. Their study stems from an interest in understanding how pedagogy has been affected by what they call "...the twin upheavals shaking American universities during the past two decades: namely, the demographics of a rapidly changing student body and the struggle for a more egalitarian and inclusive knowledge...." They present portraits of six institutions, and address issues like mastery, voice, authority, positionality, positional pedagogies, the past, and the future. In the discussion of these topics the perspectives of both students and teachers are considered. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Frances A. Maher is professor of education at Wheaton College, where she coordinated the college's Balanced Curriculum Project, which integrated the study of women into introductory courses. She has written several articles exploring the principles and practices of feminist pedagogy and co-edited a special issue of Women's Studies Quarterly on feminist pedagogy.Mary Kay Thompson Tetreault is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Portland State University. She is the author ofWomen in America: Half of History.