Page 36 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 36
šolsko polje, letnik xxxi, številka 5–6
signs, body, stereotypes etc. through multiple exchanges, as well as con-
sciousness-raising studies to a certain extent.
Despite facing many changes (educational, intergenerational, from
women-only to queering students, among others) and obstacles (structur-
al, political, financial etc.), the Centre has persisted in its mission to affirm
feminism as an indisputable knowledge claim. By carrying out the educa-
tion at the crossroads of disciplines (humanities and social sciences, but
also natural sciences), artistic practices and activism, it has attempted to
see which feminist ideas circulate across them and what are the ranges of
their influence and shifts. While in 1995, in the context of (post)war con-
flicts and dissolution of the union of Yugoslav states, the Centre took on
feminist theory as a critical tool against the nationalistic ideology and the
war paradigm, then acting as a kind of ethical survival, nowadays there are
other questions and motives that matter.
How can we invent new feminism(s) as an emancipatory promise
once more, as a radical discourse that works against inequalities, the sub-
jugation of women, and impediments to freedom while confronting ne-
oliberalism and “neoliberalising feminism” (Prügl, 2015)? Since “the neo-
liberal trend is impregnated /.../ with old fashioned academic design that
counts on (neo)conservativism” (Kašić, 2016, p. 130), retrograde paths and
(neo)traditional morality, how can we then respond to the sexist, andro-
centric, anti-gender and racist assumptions that deepen inequality and
foster social exclusion and discrimination? How can we through feminist
lenses at the same time reflect upon topics that include the state of critical
approaches to rights, discriminatory practices and injustice, and endeav-
our to create epistemological alliances with critical studies such as decolo-
nial or antiracist research studies, among others? Also, how can we re-pos-
it the role of feminist agency in a post-(neo)Marxist, post-(neo)colonial,
and postmodern epistemological context in order to affirm the feminist
struggle and transnational solidarity across the borders (Mohanty, 2003)?
These are some of the urgent issues that require careful attention for anal-
ysis. Finally, which radical interventions are needed in feminist education
in order to respond to these on-going demands?
Feminism as Subversive Knowledge: A Troubling Setting
/…/ feminism as an epistemological project is /…/ a struggle for meaning,
for concepts, for the tradition of thought. It is an oppositional, potential-
ly (subversive) knowledge that challenges the ruling ideas, questions the
literary, philosophical, historical canon, transforms “official knowledge”
34
signs, body, stereotypes etc. through multiple exchanges, as well as con-
sciousness-raising studies to a certain extent.
Despite facing many changes (educational, intergenerational, from
women-only to queering students, among others) and obstacles (structur-
al, political, financial etc.), the Centre has persisted in its mission to affirm
feminism as an indisputable knowledge claim. By carrying out the educa-
tion at the crossroads of disciplines (humanities and social sciences, but
also natural sciences), artistic practices and activism, it has attempted to
see which feminist ideas circulate across them and what are the ranges of
their influence and shifts. While in 1995, in the context of (post)war con-
flicts and dissolution of the union of Yugoslav states, the Centre took on
feminist theory as a critical tool against the nationalistic ideology and the
war paradigm, then acting as a kind of ethical survival, nowadays there are
other questions and motives that matter.
How can we invent new feminism(s) as an emancipatory promise
once more, as a radical discourse that works against inequalities, the sub-
jugation of women, and impediments to freedom while confronting ne-
oliberalism and “neoliberalising feminism” (Prügl, 2015)? Since “the neo-
liberal trend is impregnated /.../ with old fashioned academic design that
counts on (neo)conservativism” (Kašić, 2016, p. 130), retrograde paths and
(neo)traditional morality, how can we then respond to the sexist, andro-
centric, anti-gender and racist assumptions that deepen inequality and
foster social exclusion and discrimination? How can we through feminist
lenses at the same time reflect upon topics that include the state of critical
approaches to rights, discriminatory practices and injustice, and endeav-
our to create epistemological alliances with critical studies such as decolo-
nial or antiracist research studies, among others? Also, how can we re-pos-
it the role of feminist agency in a post-(neo)Marxist, post-(neo)colonial,
and postmodern epistemological context in order to affirm the feminist
struggle and transnational solidarity across the borders (Mohanty, 2003)?
These are some of the urgent issues that require careful attention for anal-
ysis. Finally, which radical interventions are needed in feminist education
in order to respond to these on-going demands?
Feminism as Subversive Knowledge: A Troubling Setting
/…/ feminism as an epistemological project is /…/ a struggle for meaning,
for concepts, for the tradition of thought. It is an oppositional, potential-
ly (subversive) knowledge that challenges the ruling ideas, questions the
literary, philosophical, historical canon, transforms “official knowledge”
34
