Teaching Post-structuralist Feminist Theory in Education: Student resistances

Abstract

ABSTRACT Increasing numbers of undergraduate students in education are using 'post-structuralist' theory and concepts in their discussions of gender. However, because of their lack of knowledge of structuralism, their use of post -structuralist theory is often confused. Many of my students invoke a humanist subject who 'positions' herself in a range of discourses, while purporting to work within a wider theoretical framework which eschews humanism. Judith Butler's work on 'the subject' is used here to critique such confusion, which is evident particularly in the students' use of the work of Bronwyn Davies.