Postmodernism, feminism, and cultural politics : redrawing educational boundaries

320 Pages·1991·94.998 MB·English

by  Giroux, Henry A.

HENRY A. GIROUX, EDITOR
REDRAWINGE DUCATIONAL
BOUNDARIES
POSTMODERNISM,
FEMINISM, AND
CULTURAL POLITICS
SUNY Series, Teacher Empowerment and School Reform
Henry A. Giroux and Peter L. McLaren
HENRY A. GIROUX, EDITOR
POSTMODERNISM,
FEMINISM, AND
CULTURAL POLITICS
REDRAWING EDUCATIONAL
BOUNDARIES
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 1991 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
For information, address State University of New York
Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Postmodernism, feminism, and cultural politics : redrawing educational
boundaries/ Henry A. Giroux, editor.
p. cm. - (SUNY series, teacher empowerment and school
reform)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-7914-0576-1 (alk. paper). - ISBN 0-7914-0577-X (pbk.:
alk. paper)
1. Education - Social aspects - United States. 2. Educational
sociology - United States. 3. Postmodernism - United States.
4. Education - United States - Philosophy. I. Giroux, Henry A.
II. Series: Teacher empowerment and school reform.
LC191.4.P67 1991
370.19'0973 - dc20 90-36679
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
"Natasha has just come to the window so that the air
may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright
green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue
sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is
beautiful. Let future generations cleanse it of all evil,
oppression, and violence and enjoy it to the full."
Leon Trotsky, Trotsky's Diary in Exile -1935
This book is dedicated to four editors, Sophy Craze, Candy
Mitchell, Ralph Page, and Priscilla C. Ross, who express
in their work and friendship the highest standards of integrity,
scholarship, and courage.
For Bell Hooks who exhibits in her work and life what it
means to make the political more pedagogical and the
pedagogical more political.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Modernism, Postmodernism, and Feminism:
Rethinking the Boundaries of Educational Discourse
Henry A. Giroux
1. Reading Images Critically: 60
Toward a Postmodern Pedagogy
Douglas Kellner
2. An Ethic of Solidarity and Difference 83
Sharon Welch
3. Presence of Mind in the Absence of Body 100
Linda Brodkey and Michelle Fine
4. Raging Hormones and Powerful Cars: 119
The Construction of Men's Sexuality in School Sex
Education and Popular Adolescent Films
Mariamne H. Whatley
5. Schooling the Postmodern Body: 144
Critical Pedagogy and the Politics of Enfleshment
Peter L. McLaren
6. Women Dancing Back: 174
Disruption and the Politics of Pleasure
Leslie Gotfrit
vii
viii Contents
7. The Making of the Boy: 196
Meditations on What Grammar School Did With,
To, and For My Body
Philip R. D. Corrigan
8. Postmodernism as Border Pedagogy: 217
Redefining the Boundaries of Race and Ethnicity
Henry A. Giroux
N ates and References 257
Index 303
viii
Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the help of a
number of friends. I am particularly grateful to Donaldo Macedo,
Jeanne-Brady Giroux, Roger Simon, Ralph Page, Peter McLaren,
Stephen Haymes, and Stanley Aronowitz for reading various drafts
of the first and last chapters included in this volume. I am
particularly grateful to Candy Mitchell who supported me right
from the beginning of this project. I am especially grateful to my
graduate students Martin O'Neill and Honor Fagan who read
endless drafts of my work and played a major role in getting me to
rethink and rewrite various sections . One could not expect more
from my editor, Priscilla Ross, at SUNY Press. Her intelligent
advice and warm support were crucial in getting this volume
started and completed. Thanks to my wife, Jeanne-Brady, and my
three boys, Jack, Chris and Brett, for reminding me that productive
work cannot be done outside a context that provides meaning,
warmth, and love. Goodbye to Rosa, my friend for the last decade.
While I am solely responsible for my own work, this volume
represents a collective effort on the part of a group of authors who
have been a pleasure to work with. Without their collective effort
this book could not have been put together.
I would like to thank the Boston University Journal of
Education for permission to publish the following articles:
Douglas Kellner, "Reading Images Critically: Toward a
Postmodern Pedagogy."
Peter McLaren, "Schooling and the Postmodern Body: Critical
Pedagogy and the Politics of Enfleshment. 11
Linda Brodkey and Michelle Fine, "Presence of Mind in the
Absence of Body.1 1
ix