Abstract
In this paper I explore my experiences as visiting faculty teaching English language and Feminist Studies courses at a private university in Karachi, Pakistan. While balancing these different fields I aimed to integrate feminist pedagogies (Keating, 2007; Hooks,1994; Swarr and Nagar, 2010) and strategize with other politically aligned faculty to draw out important issues in our courses. I was faced with the challenging task of constructing syllabi attendant to the training of students in the ‘canons’ of the field and finding course content that allowed us collectively to engage with critical conversations on regional issues. Formal academic publication processes have played a role in gatekeeping and denigrating local knowledges, which has impoverished competing and diverse perspectives theorizing on Pakistan. I came to a range of solutions in response: assigning editorials and magazine articles that were not ‘academic’ but represented critical regional perspectives, assigning stories and narratives of marginalized experiences of class, caste, ethnicity, religion etc., familiarizing students with ongoing resistance movements to name a few. My paper expands on these strategies and how I navigate decolonial and feminist perspectives for the Pakistani classroom.
Recommended Citation
Khawar, Sheema
(2023)
"Interrogating Silences in the Postcolonial Classroom,"
Feminist Pedagogy: Vol. 4:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/feministpedagogy/vol4/iss1/6
Included in
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons