Golden lads and girls all must/As chimney-sweepers, come to dust. –Cymbeline Continue reading “Golden lads and girls all come to dust: School shootings and gender in a violent America”
A report from from the BSA’s Young Masculinities one-day seminar
On Friday the 2nd of November, in an event entitled Young Masculinities: Challenges, Changes and Transitions the British Sociological Association’s Youth Study Group turned their attention to masculinities, an area receiving ever increasing academic attention in light of both the concerns of ‘the problem with boys’ as well as shifts within contemporary theories of masculinity. These shifting theories of masculinity have been usefully brought together in relation to education in particular in a recent article in Gender and Education by Chris Haywood and Máirtín Mac an Ghaill (October 2012), who suggest that “studies of masculinity in education are reconsidering how masculinity is being constituted” (2012: 580). Thus, while researchers within the field of gender and education have had masculinity as a central site of analysis for some time, in the case of the BSA’s Youth Study Group, masculinity has been noticeably absent as Steve Roberts, the group’s co-organiser remarked when opening the seminar. Although education acted as an investigatory location for some of the papers (Cann, Ingram, Kehler, Schalet), education as a specific avenue of investigation for young masculinities was interestingly not at the forefront of the papers being given. Forms of education could nonetheless be observed in the papers offered, with young men learning about acceptable forms of cultural consumption, learning about codes of conduct within particular subcultural contexts, learning to regulate themselves, and applying what it means to be a ‘man’ in transition(s) to the work place. The relationship between education and young men was therefore located, in most of the papers, at the level of social and cultural practice rather than at a formal or institutional level. Continue reading “A report from from the BSA’s Young Masculinities one-day seminar”
NEW SERIES: Queer Studies and Education
Series Editors: William F. Pinar, Nelson M. Rodriguez, and Ugena Whitlock Continue reading “NEW SERIES: Queer Studies and Education”
The Feminist Library presents ‘Women’s Studies Without Walls’ weekend – 19th and 20th January
By Ruth Nicholson, Structured Volunteer at The Feminist Library and member of the organising committee of the ‘Women’s Studies Without Walls’ Continue reading “The Feminist Library presents ‘Women’s Studies Without Walls’ weekend – 19th and 20th January”
Enterprising, Enduring, Enabling? Early Career Efforts and ‘Winning’ Workshops
I was recently invited to present and participate in a British Sociological Association (BSA) workshop organized by the Early Career Researchers (ECRs) Study Group conveners, Dr Katherine Twamley and Dr Mark Doidge. The title of the workshop ‘What is a Winning Funding Application?’ posed an urgent, anxious question, felt as I planned my delivery and attempted to answer a loaded query, literally worth a lot. I wondered how I would, with colleagues, ‘workshop’ my way out of funding crises and the destruction of UK Higher Education: how to keep things constructive and positive in a harsh new climate? To enable rather than dissuade even as ‘early career’ is ever extended across the career trajectory which means some never ‘arrive’? Continue reading “Enterprising, Enduring, Enabling? Early Career Efforts and ‘Winning’ Workshops”
The Exciting Life of Being a Woman: A Handbook for Women & Girls by Feminist Webs
Recently I picked up a new book by the feminist youth work collective, Feminist Webs. The Exciting Life of Being a Woman: A Handbook for Women and Girls is a riposte to the rather dreary offerings that can be found in some UK bookshops which provide a nostalgic, new take on the 1950’s children’s annuals which offered a range of sports, crafts and facts to equip young boys with the skills and knowledge to be appropriately ‘boyish’. The equivalent popular books for girls again provide range of appropriate normative gendered ideas and activities. Continue reading “The Exciting Life of Being a Woman: A Handbook for Women & Girls by Feminist Webs”
GEA 2013: Compelling Diversities, Educational Intersections: Policy, Practice, Parity
Gender and Education Association Biennial Conference 2013
Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, London South Bank University
Tuesday 23rd– Friday 26th April 2013
Confirmed keynote speakers:
– Prof. Lisa Adkins, University of Newcastle, Australia (What Do Wages Do? Feminist Theory After the Financial Crisis)
– Prof. Val Gillies, Weeks Centre, LSBU (From Baby Brain to Conduct Disorder: the New Determinism in the Classroom)
– Bidisha: From Eastern Primitivism to Western Decadence? Overcoming the Notion of Cultural Differences in Gender, Race and Class Politics
Plenary Panel:
– Dr Tracey Reynolds, Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, LSBU
– Dr Jin Haritaworn, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
– Dr Kay Inckle, Trinity College Dublin
– Dr Jayne Osgood, London Metropolitan University
– Dr Vanita Sundaram, University of York
Performance:
– Dr Claudia Brazzle, Liverpool Hope University
– Teddy Nygh, Director of Riot From Wrong and Co-Founder of Fully Focused
The ninth international Gender and Education Association conference, Compelling Diversities, Educational Intersections hosted by the Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, engages with key debates surrounding the interplay between dynamics of education, work, employment and society in the context of crisis, upheaval and cutbacks, which reconfigure axes of intersectional inequalities. In considering diversity in education, this conference will explore the relationship between new equality regimes and continued educational inequalities, exploring organisational ambivalence, change and resistance. It will ask important questions about the role of feminist research at a time when education, and its variously placed subjects (academics, pupils, students, and policy makers), wrestle with the commitments and contentions in doing diversity and being diverse.
Book your place
If you are paying by debit or credit card, please book online using Eventbrite at http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/4743075667
If you wish to receive an invoice or have any queries, please email enterprise-events@lsbu.ac.uk
Conference Fee
£380 – Standard conference booking fee – Member*
£420 – Standard conference booking fee – Non-member
£150 – Standard day rate
* To obtain your discount code, necessary for member discount, please contact Alice Jesmont (a.jesmont@lancaster.ac.uk)
Is university life becoming more sexist?
Undergraduate students at Cardiff University are gearing up to discuss whether life at university is becoming more sexist. As part of this Emily Parnell, an undergraduate student, reflects on Carnage UK: Pimps ‘n’ Hoes Continue reading “Is university life becoming more sexist?”
The sexually available versus the crooks; gender and HIV prevention education in Mozambique
The cynic in me was not surprised to find that young women in Mozambique experienced sexual harassment in schools. I had thought carefully about this eventuality prior to setting out to Mozambique to gather data for my doctoral study on HIV- and AIDS-related education, and the possible action I might take if and when confronted with a situation such as this. What did take me by surprise was the extent to which the young men were put away as inherently unreliable. It seemed they were, to paraphrase one research participant not really worth ‘speaking about’. Young women and men appeared to be firmly stuck between a ‘rock and a hard place’. In a setting such as this, the potential impact of HIV prevention education seems rather questionable. Continue reading “The sexually available versus the crooks; gender and HIV prevention education in Mozambique”
Inclusion and Gender Equity in Education: A Conference at the Institute for Educational Development, Aga Khan University
Dar es Salaam, 14 – 16 November 2012
GEA Policy Report Continue reading “Inclusion and Gender Equity in Education: A Conference at the Institute for Educational Development, Aga Khan University”