No Angel in the Classroom: Teaching through Feminist Discourse

By Berenice Malka Fisher

Book Overview

No Angel in the Classroom: Teaching through Feminist Discourse presents a theoretically complex yet down-to-earth and personal account of feminist teaching in higher education. Starting with a nuanced interpretation of consciousness-raising, longtime feminist educator Berenice Malka Fisher develops her philosophy of feminist teaching as a form of political discourse. Through reflection on a series of candid classroom stories, she analyzes knotty problems faced by academics and activists. What counts as knowledge in discussion of feminist issues? Can teachers exercise authority without being authoritarian? What is the role of caring in political deliberation? Should safety be considered when students and teachers address volatile topics? How can feminist and other teachers committed to social justice give serious attention to the intersections of gender, race, and sexual orientation?

This groundbreaking book is intended for the beginning and veteran teachers and others concerned with the contribution of education to extending social justice. Fisher's work offers a pedagogical vision that inspires both passion and critical thinking.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0847691241
• ISBN13: 9780847691241
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Interested in Feminist Pedagogy?-A Must Read!

For those interested in classroom environments and Feminist discourse as pedagogy this book is amazing. Fisher uses many class examples and proceeds to deconstruct them using her methods of a mixture of consciousness-raising techniques from the 60s and 70s early feminist movements as well as current tenets of feminist scholarship. Her solutions to difficult situations can be used in many classrooms. She analyzes her position as a tenured faculty and her teaching philosophy with the admission that those circumstances are not universal or even commonplace in the lives of other faculty.She addresses the stereotype that Women's Studies classes are essentially touchy-feely and thus less scholarly or intellectual, by bringing to the forefront that learning takes place under varying circumstances. Qualifying the validity of one type of learning over another has routinely been a way to belittle not just women's accomplishments but the accomplishments of many marginalized groups.Anyone interested in teaching at a University level would benefit from reading this book. You don't have to identify as a feminist to appreciate the well articulated theories and their practical applications.