Mobilising spaces of agency through genealogies of race and gender: issues of indigeneity, marginality and schooling

Abstract

This article presents data from a case study of a non-traditional secondary school for Indigenous girls located in a suburban area of Queensland (Australia). The focus is predominantly on the identity and practices of Nicole who is one of the school’s teachers. Nicole’s identity as an Indigenous woman and teacher and the school’s approach to supporting its marginalised students are theorised in relation to particular elements of feminist genealogy. These elements are associated with the possibilities for agency opened up through the subject’s critical reflection on, and resistance of, the discursive relations that constitute the self. The article draws on feminist theories to explicate the potential of such reflection and resistance to disrupt and transform gendered and racist norms and to legitimise alternative constructions of female indigeneity – to that represented in dominant colonial discourse.

Keywords:

• feminism
• genealogy
• gender
• race
• indigeneity

Notes

1. Nicole and the school were happy to be identified in this article. Permission to reveal the identity of the school was granted following all research participants (including the school principal) reading a final draft of the article before it was sent out to be reviewed. The names Cassandra, Tanya and Bronwyn are pseudonyms.