This is the third installment in my “Big Idea Syllabus” series inspired by Dr. Michael Wesch’s “Big Idea” Syllabus for Anthropology. My “Big Idea” Syllabus for History can be found here, for Writing here. The “Big Idea” Syllabus for Gender Studies follows. Gender is an important, valid field of inquiry, and because women and gender-nonconformingContinue reading “The “Big Idea” Gender Studies Syllabus”
Tag Archives: research
Banning “Traditional” – Hidden Power of Words Series, #32
As words, “traditional” and “tradition” conceal far more than they can ever reveal. Their connotations often center around static historical, narrow, privileged worldviews. While an outright ban would probably lack productivity, these words are used in such divergent ways, often with ulterior motives, so as to lack any specificity. Thoughts about “banning” the word “traditional”Continue reading “Banning “Traditional” – Hidden Power of Words Series, #32″
Experience, Voice, Authority
Who has the necessary authority to speak about a given topic or identity? What do we miss when trying to learn about Otherness (see “Can the Subaltern Speak?”)? Given thousands of years of history, history dominated by an elite often consisting of normative White men and now History dominated by “professionals,” such questions will always beContinue reading “Experience, Voice, Authority”
Retraction: Brains, Politics, and Essentialism
In three previous blogs (here, here, and here), I made statements I can no longer stand by. (I should have made this post a long time ago, but until a conversation in the past few weeks, I had forgotten I made these statements, and I got a bit too excited about the “easy” explanation. IContinue reading “Retraction: Brains, Politics, and Essentialism”
Book Review–“Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences”
Last night I read Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences published by Penguin Books. The author–Leonard Sax–has a Ph.D. and a M.D., so I expected a monograph of quality. However, I’ve never read an academic book more offensive, problematic, inaccurate, queerphobic, transphobic, sexist, hateful, opinionated. I’m stillContinue reading “Book Review–“Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences””
Presentism En Masse: Sex and Gender, Diction, and Historical Narratives
Earlier today while reading and reviewing an in-progress chapter for a friend, it occurred to me that we are all vastly guilty of a very specific kind of presentism. We’re so blind to this presentism that it goes almost completely unnoticed, and it happens without cognizance. I’m guilty, too. We much more readily reserve categoriesContinue reading “Presentism En Masse: Sex and Gender, Diction, and Historical Narratives”
Difference, Intelligence, and Life
Crows, scientists say, are as smart as the typical five-to-seven year-old. Any comment about the “intelligence” any kind of “life” has or does not have is immediately problematic–and human-centric. The more we learn about other forms of life, the more we realize how much more they know than previously acknowledged and how much more weContinue reading “Difference, Intelligence, and Life”
Real Problems Under Cloaks of Success, or How Polk Elementary Handles Bullying
I attended Gladys Polk Elementary in Richwood, Texas, from August 1992 to May 1999. It was a huge part of my early life (and some bad memories, discussed here), and I continue to keep track of what is going on at Polk–thanks to the Internet. This past December, I read through its 2016-2017 Campus ImprovementContinue reading “Real Problems Under Cloaks of Success, or How Polk Elementary Handles Bullying”
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 