Blair, Maud, Holland, Janet and Sheldon, Sue (1995).
Identity and Diversity: Gender and the Experience of
Education. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters
279 pp. + xi
$29.95 (Paper) ISBN 1-85359-248-X
$74.95
Reviewed by John R. Kellogg
Ohio University
Educators currently struggle with the issues of diversity
and difference. When making decisions regarding curricular
offerings, textbooks, and instructional programming, educators
need to be sensitive to and plan for the differences among
students. Curiously, educators often view diversity as the
combined effect of singular differences among students. In
other words, educators frequently attend to one particular
difference--race, gender, religion, or social class--that
typifies and distinguishes among students. Rarely do discussions
focus on the connectedness of a variety of differences and the
effects of those interconnections on the development of
children's identities.
The strength of Identity and Diversity: Gender and the
Experience of Education is its offering of a diversity of
readings. This collection brings to light the conflicts that
arise when multiple differences are considered to influence the
development of identity. The book, however, does not directly
examine how the dynamics of diversity and identity relate to the
field of education. As the editors explain in the introduction,
the collection is part of a series put together for a course
intended to "introduce the notion of diversity and difference in
education" (p.vii). The essays assembled by the editors work
well to accomplish the stated purpose of serving as an
instructional tool.
The book includes essays organized in three sections. The
first section consists of eight autobiographies, the second
offers several theories related to gender and identity, and the
third provides essays that discuss social identities and their
formation (p.vii). The essays are varied and offer insight into
how gender interacts with other types of diversity to influence
the development of social identity. For example, one of the
autobiographies examines the manner in which gender and race
affected the development of the author's identity. The resulting
examination of the intersections between domains of diversity
broadens the reader's understanding and appreciation of gender
and race and also his or her understanding of identity
formation. In the end, the reader recognizes that each
individual's development of identity involves the complex
interplay among social relations based on gender, race, class,
and other domains of difference.
The book opens with a series of autobiographies; and the
initial essay, bel hooks' "Writing Autobiography," discusses the
difficulties in authoring one's own story. The editors note in
the introduction of the book that autobiography is a research
method used in feminist scholarship (p. xi). Highlighting the
inherent awkwardness of authoring an autobiography, hooks
examines the strengths and weakness of this methodology.
Authoring her autobiography was, hooks states, "a way for me to
evoke the particular experience of growing up southern black in
segregated communities. It was a way to recapture the richness
of southern black culture" (p. 5). The telling of a person's
life experience, particularly if doing so gives voice to those
without one, is the function of the feminist autobiography.
However, as hooks points out, an autobiographer may also leave
important aspects of her experience out of the work.
This essay offers a strong starting point, and it is
followed by a variety of authors and their stories. Each story
evokes a different social context, but all revolve around the
core issues of gender, differences, and identity. In "Death of a
Good Woman" Carolyn Steedman discusses growing up in London,
England in the 1950's. The essay summarizes her book
Landscape for a Good Woman, which recounts her
experiences growing up with her mother. Describing her mother's
conflict as a gender and class issue, Steedman claims that her
account differs from those depicted in mainstream working-class
autobiographies.
By this point the reader may be lulled into believing that
this collection will include only narrative accounts of woman
and their development of identity. However, several of the
autobiographies are far from expected stories. Following
Steedman, Fred Fever contributes "Who Cares? Memories of
Childhood in Care." His account is of a man growing up as an
orphan. His childhood included the experiences of being passed
from one caretaker to another, sexually abused, and neglected.
Fever's description of his school performance in relation to his
life experiences is a telling account of how development of
identity intersects with issues of race, gender, and social
class. Fever's essay is followed by Uvanney Maylor's "Identity,
Migration and Education," the story of a girl raised by a
single, working-class father in Jamaica. Maylor tells of the
difficulties she had in developing her identity as a young girl
while her father struggled to raise a family. The story is rich
ground for discussions of how gender and social class function
to shape children's development.
The journey through autobiographies moves then to Scotland
and Leslie Hill's description of her work as an educator in the
1960's. Hill describes the dynamics of the patriarchal system of
education in Scotland and the effects of these dynamics on her
career as a female educator. Mary Evans follows this
account with a story highlighting the ways the English school
system in the 1950's served to reproduce the social structure.
She explores the effect that this social reproduction had on
middle-class women in particular. Like several others in this
collection, this essay opens for discussion the complicated
interplay of gender, class, and identity.
The next autobiography, by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, adds the
element of race to the mix. Her story takes place in New
Zealand during the government's policy of "pepper potting." She
explains that "pepper potting was the government policy of mixed
racial housing. Having Maori and Paheha live side by side, with
goodwill and purpose, as they had so diligently fought side by
side in World War II" (p.74). Her story depicts the struggle of
a woman in school trying to maintain her cultural identity in a
time when racial identity was being suppressed in the name of
harmonious race relations.
The final contribution to this section is Margaret
Wetherell and Christine Griffin's, "Feminist Psychology and the
Study of Men and Masculinity: Assumptions and Perspectives."
This essay excerpts transcripts of interviews with male
researchers who study men and masculinity. The focus is on what
led these individuals to this area of study and the issues the
growing field of men's studies raises for feminist theory.
For Part One, the book's editors have selected powerful
autobiographies that serve to broaden the reader's horizons.
Part Two includes seven essays that discuss theories addressing
issues of gender and differences. The first, Judy Lown's,
"Feminist Perspectives," is a wonderful historical summary of
the development of "second wave feminism." The account
discusses the early roots of feminism as a woman's rights
movement by providing summaries of the various feminist theories
including, Socialist/Marxist, psychoanalytical, lesbian
separatist, radical, revolutionary, black, and liberal feminist
theories. It offers a comprehensive review of the various
"feminisms" and their differences. Then the work moves into a
consideration of the relationship between post-modernism and
feminist theory. This opening piece provides the novice reader
of feminist theory with the theoretical background to link the
autobiographies in Part One with the more arcane discussions in
Part Two.
In "Feminist Theories of the State: To Be or Not To Be?"
Jane Kenway continues the examination of feminist theory and its
relation to post-modernist and post-structuralist thought.
Kenway discusses the incompatibilities between feminism and
post-modernism. In her conclusion she writes:
Post-structuralist and, more broadly, post-
modernist feminism have provided feminist
theories of state, and feminist theory more
generally, with some inescapable challenges.
And the practical necessity for feminism to
act in and on the state has set post-
modernism and post-structuralism a demanding
political and theoretical task. The extent
to which feminists are able to work through
and beyond the tensions between modernist
and post-modernist feminism towards
feminists theories of the state which
accommodate and transcend the best of both
worlds will determine whether, in the
future, feminist state theory is "to be or
not to be." (p.140)
With Kenway's discussion in mind the reader moves to
"Postmodernism and Gender Relations in Feminist Theory," by Jane
Flax. In contrast to Kenway, Flax examines ways that feminist
and post-modernist theory can be made compatible. Her
examination of power and gender explores women's varied stances
with regard to power:
We should avoid seeing woman/ourselves as
totally innocent, passive beings. Such a
view prevents us from seeing the areas of
life in which women have had an effect, in
which we are less determined by the will of
other(s), and in which some of us have and
do exert power over others. (p.156)
In her conclusion Flax calls for feminists to accept the range
of differences in women's experiences and to resist the
temptation to impose order on such experiences by classifying
them. Her position is that feminist theory needs to break from
the notion that there is a unifying and global female
experience. Moreover, she argues that power is not merely used
to control women, but that women wield power over others as
well.
These first three pieces are the strongest of the
theoretical discussions presented in Part Two of the book. The
next three essays examine more specific theories of racism,
masculinity, and homosexuality, relating them to the major theme
of the book. Although interesting, these chapters have less
pedagogical value than the earlier essays. They concern
specific issues about identity formation as viewed from rather
narrow theoretical vantages.
Razia Aziz examines black women's lack of voice in framing
feminist theory. She maintains that feminist theory has been
developed with a white perspective that has failed to
incorporate and comprehend the black experience. The essay
argues that black women have suffered oppression because of
their gender as well as their race and that this particular
experience of oppression ought to inform feminist theory.
Jeff Hearn and David Morgan follow with a feminist
discussion of men and masculinity. According to the authors,
"Just as feminist scholarship has demonstrated that 'woman,'
'women,' and 'femininity' are socially and historically
constructed, and thus problematic, so too has it demonstrated
the problematic nature of 'man,' 'men,' and 'masculinity'"
(p.173). Hearn and Morgan discuss the issues and questions
raised for feminists by the development of this growing field of
study.
Mercer and Julien then present, "True Confessions: A
Discourse on Images of Black Male Sexuality," which considers
the limited range of representations of black men in the gay
movement. According to the authors, the typical stereotypes of
black heterosexual males are replicated in the gay community.
The authors examine the effect such representations have on the
formation of the social identities of gay black men.
In the final essay of Part Two, Carol Gilligan theorizes
that gender differences are established during critical periods
of development. She argues that masculine behavior is developed
during early childhood whereas feminine behavior is a product of
adolescence. Gilligan's theory on masculine and feminine
behavior allows the reader to view the issue of gender and
differences from the lens of psychological development. Even
though somewhat narrow in scope, this piece serves as a strong
finish to the theoretical section of the book.
The last section, "Marginal Identities," offers five essays
discussing the construction of identity among groups of people
who have recently gained voice. Margaret Lloyd provides the
first essay in which she discusses feminist theory in relation
to her own experiences as a woman with disabilities. She
explains that feminist theory was developed by 'able' people and
that men have dominated the 'disability' movement, circumstances
that have rendered disabled women invisible in both movements.
Lloyd's piece is followed by an examination of how culture has
shaped lesbian identity. Martha Vicinus's "The Historical Roots
of the Modern Lesbian Identity" summarizes the development of
lesbian identity from an historical perspective. Vinicus tracks
the cultural images of lesbians during various points in
history. The next essay also focuses on homosexuality and its
intersection with other categories of difference. Telling the
story of black, gay students and their construction of identity,
"(In) Visibility: 'Race', Sexuality and Masculinity in the
School Context" explores issues of racism, sexuality, and
gender. As some of the previous works have also done, this essay
illustrates how a particular combination of differences, in this
case blackness, maleness, and homosexuality, can complexly
affect social location, and, hence, the construction of
identity.
The next selection, "Pleasure, Pressure and Power: Some
Contradictions of Gendered Sexuality," moves to a discussion of
heterosexuality. The essay discusses how women in today's
society can "experience safer and more positive sexual
relations" and at the same time not become "unfeminine" (p.
260). Whereas this essay seems to embrace an old-fashioned view
of women, it serves to remind the reader that difference in
social location, and hence in stance, does not always signify a
radical departure from the mainstream. Difference, according to
this view, encompasses multiple, not just excluded, voices.
The final selection also constitutes a look backward--in
this case to a decidedly mainstream feminist account of gender,
differences, and the construction of identity. In "Education and
the Muslim Girl," Saeeda Khanum examines the relationship
between gender and identity within the school context by
discussing the ways that gender-segregated Muslim schools serve
to reproduce the religious and cultural identities of girls. In
part this social reproduction is accomplished by offering girls
a diluted version of the academic experience--a practice still
evident in some gender-integrated, secular, and cosmopolitan
schools in the contemporary United States.
Taken together, the essays in this volume offer readers an
opportunity to broaden their understanding of issues of gender,
diversity, and the construction of identity. The juxtaposition
of personal accounts and theory invites the reader to construct
flexible linkages between real-life stories and theoretical
models. The work goes beyond the expected discussions of gender
and differences to offer a more complex account of the ways in
which gender and differences (race, social class, sexual
orientation) abet and constrain the formation of identity.
For public school educators in an American society that is
increasingly more diverse, reading this book will broaden
appreciation of diversity and its effects on children's
development. Typically educators discuss differences among
students in singular terms: they simply identify a particular
difference in a particular student. Educators, however, need to
view diversity in the more complex terms presented by the
contributors to Identity and Diversity: Gender and the
Experience of Education. The essays in this book illustrate
the ways in which differences among individuals are multiple,
interconnected, and formative. Moreover, the theoretical models
of diversity presented in this book are more sophisticated than
those typically encountered by educators. The combination of
more complex accounts of identity and more powerful intellectual
tools for viewing diversity has the potential to empower
educators, informing their efforts to create curriculum and
develop programs that address the needs of an increasingly
diverse student body.
About the Reviewer
John R. Kellogg
John R. Kellogg is currently a student in the Ohio University
Ed.D program in Educational Administration. He is also a
principal of a high school with an enrollment of very diverse
2,100 students. His current areas of interest in education
relate to the superintendency, rural schools, student
achievement and curriculum and instruction. This book review was
completed as a class project for "Cultural and Contextual
Foundations of Leadership." The book was selected because of an
interest in studying the multi-faceted aspects of gender,
differences and the construction of identity as they relate to
children in school.
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