Teaching "Race" with a Gendered Edge
This collection of essays responds to the need to approach questions of race and racism from a feminist perspective, focusing on the intersections of race, class and gender. Only a thorough exploration of these intersections can open up a deeper understanding of racism against particular groups that have emerged in the European historical context and point to ways of intervening in the racial practices of the present.
The chapters in the book are structured into two parts: the first section focuses on particular themes like representation of race and gender inequality, as well as everyday racism in educational institutions, whereas in the second section, the intersections of race and gender are explored in national contexts.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Teaching "Race" with a Gendered Edge—Introduction
Kristín Loftsdóttir and Brigitte Hipfl
Racism and gender—historical background
Colonial legacies and migration
Problematising "white" Western feminism and whiteness
Spaces of / for change
The chapters in the book
PART I: THEMATIC EXPLORATIONS
Chapter 1: Breaking the Canon? Critical Reflections on "Other" Literary Traditions
Sandra Ponzanesi
Introduction
Towards an alternative canon: Multiculturalism and diversity
The canon and the cultural industry
Race, gender and diversity in the canon: Toni Morrison
Beloved
Conclusion: Beyond the colour-line of the canon?
Implications for teaching
Questions
Assignments
Chapter 2: Monumental Dresses: Coming to Terms with Racial Repression
Rosemarie Buikema
Sexual difference and transitional justice
The woman who kept silent
The poetics of scrap
Implications for teaching: Working with exemplary case studies
Questions
Assignments
Chapter 3: Embodying Otherness while Teaching Race and Gender at White European Universities
Ellis Jonker
Introduction
Becoming educated in (post)colonial European society
Teaching about emotionally charged topics
Implications for teaching
Questions
Assignments
PART II: EXPRESSIONS OF RACISM AND GENDER IN NATIONAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXTS
Chapter 4: Disappearing Act: The Forgotten History of Colonialism, Eugenics and Gendered Othering in Denmark
Bolette Blaagaard and Rikke Andreassen
The colonial relationship that never was
Identifying the difference-gene
Exhibiting exclusion
"Religion is not a race"
Implications for teaching
Questions
Assignments
Chapter 5: Portugal and the Empire: Discourses and Practices on Race and Gender
Elsa Peralta and Simone Frangella
Grasping Portuguese colonial "exception"
Racial-gendered relations in imperial history
The making of the "gentler colonialists"
Post-colonial reverberations
Implications for teaching
Questions
Assignments
Chapter 6: The French Ban on Headscarves: Rendering Racism Respectable
Erzsébet Barát and Ebru Sungun
Introduction
Situating the Act
Civilising the "uncivilised"
Gendering the colonial other
Feminist critique of the ban: "Une École pour Tous et pour Toutes"
Concluding remarks
Implications for teaching
Questions and assignments
Chapter 7: Racial/Ethnic Otherness in Polish Public Discourse
Aleksandra M. Różalska
Conceptualising the racial other in Polish culture
The ethnic and religious composition of Polish society:
An historical perspective
Legal framework
Cultural racism
Towards the future
Implications for teaching
Questions
Assignments
Chapter 8: "Not a Country for Women, nor for Blacks": Teaching Race and Gender in Italy between Colonial Heritages and New Perspectives
Manuela Coppola and Sonia Sabelli
Marketing the "other"
"Second generations" and the role of education
New perspectives: Teaching race and gender today
Implications for teaching
Questions
Assignments