Introduction—Feminist Pedagogies in Action: Teaching beyond Disciplines

by Sara L. Crawley, Jennifer E. Lewis, Maralee Mayberry, Guest Editors


In the introduction to their 1999 anthology, Meeting the Challenge: Innovative Feminist Pedagogies in Action, Maralee Mayberry and Ellen Cronan Rose remind us of feminist scholarship's marginalized position in the larger educational context. The anthology was conceived as a detailed exploration of how feminist pedagogies can be implemented within a variety of classroom, university, and community settings with the goal of engaging readers in an "exchange of ideas and strategies that will enrich their classroom environments, stimulate their students, and address the pressing needs and problems of their communities" (xvi). Nearly ten years later, as a result of this publication and many others like it (note that Feminist Teacher itself has provided a vibrant forum for these discussions since 1984), we have a great deal of evidence to suggest that feminist pedagogy has moved from the margins, becoming a valued tradition in many academic settings. The plethora of innovative courses and pedagogical approaches feminist teachers have designed speaks to their commitment to creating an education process in which, as Carolyn Shrewsbury states, "a community of learners is empowered to act responsibly toward one another and the subject matter and to apply that learning to social action" (8).