Page 35 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 35
b. kašić ■ feminism as epistemic disobedience ...
The Centre for Women’s Studies Zagreb: Contexts, Questions, Desires
Rather than attempting to explore the above-mentioned postulates in any
well-ordered manner, I instead wish to focus on certain issues they trig-
ger and imbue and which I see as significant for feminist alternative edu-
cation. By using the Centre for Women’s Studies in Zagreb/Croatia as an
example, I argue that an alternative form of education outside of academ-
ic institutions can ensure a freeing up from hegemonic and misogynist
knowledge more than the mainstream one, above all by creating a power-
ful shift towards feminism as an epistemic disobedience and activist the-
ory. Thereby, the issue of feminism as epistemic disobedience and activist
theory is not the point of departure in my analytical task, but one of the
most vitalising impulses of feminist scholarship aiming for transforma-
tive knowledge.
Before moving deeper to explore its modes and effects, some facts
need to be noted to analyse this specific feminist education programme.
Founded 25 years ago, the Centre for Women’s Studies was the first and
today still is the only place offering an interdisciplinary and comprehen-
sive programme in women’s/feminist studies in Croatia. Run by feminists,
namely scholars, artists, and women with experience in women’s and civ-
il activist work, the programme throughout all these years has been creat-
ed and performed using its own model, content and tools. Through a wide
range of ingeniously conceptualised modules/courses/workshops/actions,
it offers students innovative multi- and interdisciplinary education based
on critical pedagogy and continuous self-experimenting approaches and
perspectives (Kašić, 2016). More precisely:
In the conceptual-epistemological sense, the contents of the educational
program are at one level interdisciplinary and connected multitextually,
on another level they become intertwined with experiential knowledge,
while courses, modules and seminars, with few exceptions, function
more as ‘thematic studies’, and less as studies of the disciplines viewed
from a women’s/gender perspective (Barada et al., 2003, p. 121).
Over the whole time, it has been designed as an open model of edu-
cation that entails an immensely inspiring programme based on the the-
oretical articulation of feminism and feminist experience, feminist ped-
agogy and experiential learning styles, personal expressiveness and art.
Along with developing its own education matrix, the idea of the Centre
has always been to provide its students with a motivating space for creative
learning and personal “growth”. In short, the Women’s Studies education
programme was primarily conceptualised as a critical reading of various
fields of scholarly work, reality, iconography, literature, the media, visual
33
The Centre for Women’s Studies Zagreb: Contexts, Questions, Desires
Rather than attempting to explore the above-mentioned postulates in any
well-ordered manner, I instead wish to focus on certain issues they trig-
ger and imbue and which I see as significant for feminist alternative edu-
cation. By using the Centre for Women’s Studies in Zagreb/Croatia as an
example, I argue that an alternative form of education outside of academ-
ic institutions can ensure a freeing up from hegemonic and misogynist
knowledge more than the mainstream one, above all by creating a power-
ful shift towards feminism as an epistemic disobedience and activist the-
ory. Thereby, the issue of feminism as epistemic disobedience and activist
theory is not the point of departure in my analytical task, but one of the
most vitalising impulses of feminist scholarship aiming for transforma-
tive knowledge.
Before moving deeper to explore its modes and effects, some facts
need to be noted to analyse this specific feminist education programme.
Founded 25 years ago, the Centre for Women’s Studies was the first and
today still is the only place offering an interdisciplinary and comprehen-
sive programme in women’s/feminist studies in Croatia. Run by feminists,
namely scholars, artists, and women with experience in women’s and civ-
il activist work, the programme throughout all these years has been creat-
ed and performed using its own model, content and tools. Through a wide
range of ingeniously conceptualised modules/courses/workshops/actions,
it offers students innovative multi- and interdisciplinary education based
on critical pedagogy and continuous self-experimenting approaches and
perspectives (Kašić, 2016). More precisely:
In the conceptual-epistemological sense, the contents of the educational
program are at one level interdisciplinary and connected multitextually,
on another level they become intertwined with experiential knowledge,
while courses, modules and seminars, with few exceptions, function
more as ‘thematic studies’, and less as studies of the disciplines viewed
from a women’s/gender perspective (Barada et al., 2003, p. 121).
Over the whole time, it has been designed as an open model of edu-
cation that entails an immensely inspiring programme based on the the-
oretical articulation of feminism and feminist experience, feminist ped-
agogy and experiential learning styles, personal expressiveness and art.
Along with developing its own education matrix, the idea of the Centre
has always been to provide its students with a motivating space for creative
learning and personal “growth”. In short, the Women’s Studies education
programme was primarily conceptualised as a critical reading of various
fields of scholarly work, reality, iconography, literature, the media, visual
33
