Feminist post-structuralism in higher education: opportunities for transforming teaching and learning

For many of us in higher education, the changes we are hearing about and, in some cases, participating in are both invigorating and unnerving. What will the changing demographics of university par-ticipants mean for the ways that we are able to serve students and, consequently, society? What will the increasing globalization of knowl-edge mean for our individual research opportunities and the ways we understand our disciplines? How will increasingly accessible technolo-gies affect our teaching, research, and the networks that we are able to create and rely upon? While both exciting and disconcerting, change is coming and higher education institutions are in a unique position to move forward (or at least in a different direction) in the upcoming years. During this time of change, I believe it is important to re-evaluate universities ’ roles as both reflectors and producers of society. In a recent text, Tierney (1998) asserts that it is time to consider restructuring some of our ‘core activities ’ if the various stakeholders of higher education are serious about making universities responsive to changing times and changing populations. I agree with Tierney’s assertions, and believe that the teaching and learning function of universities is one that needs re-examination. Here, I consider some questions and strategies related to teaching and learning in higher education. This discussion is prompted by my recent research on feminist teaching in academic environments, as analyzed through poststructuralist and feminist lenses.1 I consider how key concepts in both post-structuralism and feminism—power, knowl-edge, and difference—take shape when put into practice in classrooms that have, in large part, the trappings of traditional education. Pushing beyond the practical examples that I found in my research, I consider ways in which the changing context of higher education supports—or fails to support—the premises of feminist teaching and learning