Feminist Approaches with Jenny Horsman

Rapporteurs: Judy Bernstein, Sandy Middleton, Anneke van Enk

The goal of the course was to tap into feminist and post-structuralist theory to find empowering and critical ways of approaching research. Participants were to "puzzle" with the questions as well as the insights and experiences we each brought to the course. We were also encouraged to play.

The group brainstormed words that were part of the specialized language of research as well as concepts associated with feminism. Jenny introduced the notion that language shapes our reality and then asked us to consider "realities" from which we were excluded through language. In small groups we discussed what linguistic features tipped us off that we were not part of a given version of "reality" and moved on to consider how we were challenged in the literacy field to work with people whose language and reality were often quite different from our own. We noted how quickly we could be brought to feel we were "outsiders" and thus without power, but we also attended to other "inside/outside" dynamics that make people feel powerless.

On the second day, participants were asked to play with identity and the multiple ways of seeing who we are. We each chose an object from a table and then, in a round, spoke to the object in a loose way, by saying something about what our choice of object said about us. This activity highlighted the fact that who we are and how we name ourselves are loaded. We make different choices about how we represent ourselves: it is a complicated, not a straightforward, process.

We moved on to discuss the phases of research. The goal was to get a sense of what the research process looks like, understanding that often these phases blur together. Seeing it as a structure with phases is partly about funding but it is also a way to gauge where one is in the process. 

Breaking into small groups, one group for each phase, we "troubled" some of our assumptions about what happens in each of the following phases of the research process. 

• Questions/problems/issues phase
• Data collection phase
• Analysis and interpretation phase
• Reporting/action phase