Feminist Pedagogy

Belenky | Guerilla Girls | Keifer-Boyd

Women’s Ways of Knowing (1997)

by Mary Belenky

In Women's Ways of Knowing (1997), Belenky describes the "midwife model" of teaching, which incorporates a curriculum where the teacher and students collaborate in the facilitation of knowledge. This departs from the traditional “banking” model of teaching, where the teacher acts as a talking head of knowledge presented from a single viewpoint. “Midwife-teachers help students deliver their words to the world, and they use their own knowledge to put the students into conversation with other voices - past and present - in the culture” (p. 219).

The midwife model of teaching fits in well with the postmodern educational world that is emerging in today’s society. To allow students to not just learn from one point of view, but several points of view, including those of other students and people with experiences that are both similar and different to their own. A teacher that employs midwife also incorporates care for students, the need to push them to be the best they could be, but also must be accepting of many different points of view, even those that are disparate from their own.

The Guerrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art (1998) by the Guerrilla Girls

Upon reading this book, I found myself repeatedly asking “Why didn’t I learn about these powerful women in school who were living and creating alongside the men of the era?” The Guerrilla Girls wanted to know too and have compiled a working history of female artists throughout the centuries that defied their place in the world and created art that was powerful, meaningful and a valid and important part of society, in spite of being created by “the weaker sex.” I truly wonder how that idiom came about when there are repeated accounts of women artists finding ways to subvert their male counterparts and create work that not only rivaled the talent and technique of the more famous male artists, but also held more emotion and personal content (Guerilla Girls, 1998). Today, women are still finding ways to prove their strength to men - not just physical strength, but the strength of our emotions, passions, talent and character. Teaching art to a classroom of both males and females, an emphasis on the fact that there were and are still many important, talented and impactful female artists echoes the sentiment that all voices must be heard, as shown above in the midwife model. There are many avenues to learning and many histories to explore that can be critically examined and recontextualized for today’s students and art classroom. Guerrilla Girls are just one outlet that have helped repave the path that was laid down for us by a patriarchal society so long ago. It is time to get the jackhammer and forge a new path.

From Content to Form: Judy Chicago's Pedagogy with Reflections by Judy Chicago (2007) by Karen Keifer-Boyd

From Content to Form: Judy Chicago's Pedagogy with Reflections by Judy Chicago (2007), discusses the methods and details of Judy Chicago’s Feminist Pedagogy, which incorporates the goals of "effecting social change; envisioning teaching as a political act; viewing knowledge as value-laden; valuing personal experience and self-representation; providing avenues for multivocality, and sharing leadership in student-centered environment" (p. 134) Although similar to the midwife model described above, Feminist teaching involves an emphasis on social justice issues and a push towards excellence, as well as discussing history and contemporary issues through a feminist lens. With a feminist pedagogy, students are led to "discovery through research, dialogue, experimentation, and reflection" (p. 139).

In the video posted, Keifer-Boyd discusses further the aspects of a feminist pedagogy and how it can implemented at a collegiate level. I feel that this can be implemented at any level of school, however, in a more simplistic form, and then be scaffolded as children get older. This creates a sense of community and democracy, and allows for male and female students to reach a place of equity that has never been apparent in schools or in society in the US.

Feminist Mapping (2012) by Karen Keifer-Boyd and Deborah Smith-Shank

In the article Feminist Mapping (2012), Karen Keifer-Boyd and Deborah Smith-Shank describe a way of artmaking that references feminist ideals. Mapping is a way of reimaging space based on personal experience or experience as a woman and documenting it. They state: “Feminist mapping makes connections between the politics of knowledge, and the spaces, places, and locations that we occupy” (p. 1). Mapping can be actual physical charts and graphs of space, or a more metaphorical map that is created through experience, photographs or writing. This type of artmaking subverts the white male Eurocentric historical mapping practice of colonization and overthrowing power systems. Instead of creating new maps (mapbreaking), however, it recontextualizes existing space as a way of promoting equality (mapmaking). This art fits well with the Feminist Pedagogy that was championed by Judy Chicago and Keifer-Boyd, as well as the midwife model of teaching. These types of art projects must begin with a deeper conversation about the existing paradigms and tropes of females in particular. The video above would be a great place to start the conversation about how women, and feminists in general, are portrayed in popular culture, and would be appropriate to show to younger children as well. It starts the conversation about what feminism is, and helps show that feminism is meant as a way to promote equality of voice and power, and is not a bad word.

References

• Belenky, M. F. (1997). Women's ways of knowing: The development of self, voice and mind. New York, NY: Basic. 

• Guerrilla Girls (Group of artists). (1998). The Guerrilla Girls' bedside companion to the history of Western art. New York: Penguin Books.

• Keifer-Boyd, K. (2007). From content to form: Judy Chicago's pedagogy with reflections by Judy Chicago. Studies in Art Education a Journal of Issues and Research, 134-154.

• Keifer-Boyd, K. and Smith-Shank, D. (2012). Feminist Mapping. Visual Culture and Gender, Vol. 7, 1-5.