Distributed for Zubaan Books
Doing Feminisms in the Academy
This collection of essays brings together auto-ethnographic, critical, and comparative reflections on doing feminisms in the academy in contemporary India and the United Kingdom. Written by emergent and seasoned academics from a range of disciplines and and geopolitical locations, these essays explore the transformative potential, dilemmas, and challenges of teaching, learning, researching, and working as feminist academics. The contributors engage with a wide variety of issues: identity and difference; institutional and classroom pedagogies; reflexivity and accountability; and the production and circulation of feminist and non-feminist knowledge. This collection also provides the frame and the lens through which to view the wider landscape of contemporary higher education. Anchored in feminist scholarship and written in an accessible style, Doing Feminisms in the Academy will be an essential read for anyone interested in feminist, women’s, and gender studies.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Being Feminist, Doing Feminisms in the Academy in India and the UK
Radhika Govinda, Fiona Mackay, Krishna Menon and Rukmini Sen
SECTION I: HISTORIES OF DOING FEMINISM IN THE ACADEMY
1. Fifty Years of Doing Feminisms in the Academy: Where Do We Stand? Reflections from the UK
Radhika Govinda
2. From Perspective to Discipline: Mapping Forty Years of Women’s/Gender Studies in India
Rukmini Sen and Krishna Menon
SECTION II: NEGOTIATING THE ACADEMY/INSTITUTIONAL PEDAGOGIES
3. Dilemmas of Academic Feminists in Leadership and Management: A North–South Conversation
Fiona Mackay and Krishna Menon
4. ‘Being’ Brown: An Intersectional Account of Identity and the Postgraduate Experience in the UK
Kamya Choudhary
5. With Stalin and I: Feminist Politics of UKBA Surveillance
Kanchana Ruwanpura
6. Social and Political Science in Practice: An Experiment in Co-production
Meryl Kenny
7. Feminism in the Neo-Liberal University: Expanding Field or Shrinking Space?
Rachana Johri
SECTION III: ENGENDERING DISCIPLINES, DISCIPLINING GENDER
8. Between Discomfort and Negotiation: Reflections on Teaching Law Through (Feminist) Sociology
Rukmini Sen
9. Putting ‘Gender’ into Gender and Development: Reflections on Feminist Teaching and Practice in Development Studies
Megan Harrington
10. Science, Gender and the Ship in a Bottle: Teaching Away Easy Assumptions in Science Studies and in Gender Studies
Pablo Schyfter
11. Ableism and Social Work Education in England and Scotland
Sarah Golightley
12. ‘Soft’ Topics and ‘Soft’ Teachers: Some Reflections on Teaching (Gender and Feminism) at a UK University
Lauren Wilks
SECTION IV: PEDAGOGIES OF IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE
13. Interrogating the Self and Categorising the Other: A Feminist Lens to Understanding Performance and Social Location in the University Classroom
Sumangala Damodaran
14. A Religious Muslim Male Student in Women’s Studies? Some Reflections on Identities and Disciplines
Abdul Rahman K.C.
15. Framing of Gendered Violence in Contemporary Times: Challenges for an Indian Women’s and Gender Studies Classroom
Bindu K.C.
16. Decolonising Feminist Classrooms
Radhika Govinda
SECTION V: FEMINIST RESEARCH AND REFLEXIVITY
17. Thinking Through the Cracks: Bi-ethnicity, Reflexivity and Affective Dissonance as a Methodology
Lisa Kalayji
18. Beyond Confession: Doing Holistic Reflexivity and Accountability
Órla Meadhbh Murray
19. Questioning the Self and the Other: Gender, Work and Migration in a Conflict Zone
Nibedita Hazarika
20. As I Struggle, I Write the Script for My Daughter
Syeda Naghma Abidi
21. Reflexivity and Feminist Research: A Conversation
Nancy Yadav and Shailly
Notes on Contributors
Index
Introduction: Being Feminist, Doing Feminisms in the Academy in India and the UK
Radhika Govinda, Fiona Mackay, Krishna Menon and Rukmini Sen
SECTION I: HISTORIES OF DOING FEMINISM IN THE ACADEMY
1. Fifty Years of Doing Feminisms in the Academy: Where Do We Stand? Reflections from the UK
Radhika Govinda
2. From Perspective to Discipline: Mapping Forty Years of Women’s/Gender Studies in India
Rukmini Sen and Krishna Menon
SECTION II: NEGOTIATING THE ACADEMY/INSTITUTIONAL PEDAGOGIES
3. Dilemmas of Academic Feminists in Leadership and Management: A North–South Conversation
Fiona Mackay and Krishna Menon
4. ‘Being’ Brown: An Intersectional Account of Identity and the Postgraduate Experience in the UK
Kamya Choudhary
5. With Stalin and I: Feminist Politics of UKBA Surveillance
Kanchana Ruwanpura
6. Social and Political Science in Practice: An Experiment in Co-production
Meryl Kenny
7. Feminism in the Neo-Liberal University: Expanding Field or Shrinking Space?
Rachana Johri
SECTION III: ENGENDERING DISCIPLINES, DISCIPLINING GENDER
8. Between Discomfort and Negotiation: Reflections on Teaching Law Through (Feminist) Sociology
Rukmini Sen
9. Putting ‘Gender’ into Gender and Development: Reflections on Feminist Teaching and Practice in Development Studies
Megan Harrington
10. Science, Gender and the Ship in a Bottle: Teaching Away Easy Assumptions in Science Studies and in Gender Studies
Pablo Schyfter
11. Ableism and Social Work Education in England and Scotland
Sarah Golightley
12. ‘Soft’ Topics and ‘Soft’ Teachers: Some Reflections on Teaching (Gender and Feminism) at a UK University
Lauren Wilks
SECTION IV: PEDAGOGIES OF IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE
13. Interrogating the Self and Categorising the Other: A Feminist Lens to Understanding Performance and Social Location in the University Classroom
Sumangala Damodaran
14. A Religious Muslim Male Student in Women’s Studies? Some Reflections on Identities and Disciplines
Abdul Rahman K.C.
15. Framing of Gendered Violence in Contemporary Times: Challenges for an Indian Women’s and Gender Studies Classroom
Bindu K.C.
16. Decolonising Feminist Classrooms
Radhika Govinda
SECTION V: FEMINIST RESEARCH AND REFLEXIVITY
17. Thinking Through the Cracks: Bi-ethnicity, Reflexivity and Affective Dissonance as a Methodology
Lisa Kalayji
18. Beyond Confession: Doing Holistic Reflexivity and Accountability
Órla Meadhbh Murray
19. Questioning the Self and the Other: Gender, Work and Migration in a Conflict Zone
Nibedita Hazarika
20. As I Struggle, I Write the Script for My Daughter
Syeda Naghma Abidi
21. Reflexivity and Feminist Research: A Conversation
Nancy Yadav and Shailly
Notes on Contributors
Index