FEMINIST AND QUEER VALUES IN THE SOUTHERN CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN CLASSROOM: THE CASE OF JANE AUSTEN'S EMMA

by Mark K. Fulk

For five years of my life, I lived in the ruraI South and taught at a small Christian university. I had been trained, especially at the master's and doctoral levels, by some of the leading thinkers in feminist pedagogy and research; and while I had initially backed away from what I then considered their more radical critiques and programs, my experience in the South caused me to fully embrace those as well. In this essay, I will explore how my feminism was shaped and in some ways radicalized by my southern experience. I will detail how, even when I was gagged by the administration--prevented from using certain materials (as explained below) and from saying practically anything about my feminism in the classroom--certain texts and situations allowed some inroads against the overarching, heterosexist (and sexist) hegemony of the region and the school. And, finally, I will offer some advice for those innovative teachers and researchers who remain in these conservative settings and dare to call themselves "feminists."