Teaching Political Science through Memory Work

Abstract

In this article, we present the results of a research project where we have tried to elaborate more socially inclusive ways of teaching and learning political science by making use of a specific feminist method of analyzing social relations-memory work. As a method, memory work involves writing and interpreting stories of personal experience, written in relation to a specific theme. The theme we worked with was gender and nation. The article compares memory work to more conventional educational approaches to this specific theme.By focusing on experience and everyday life, we claim that memory work can challenge conventional and gendered understandings of how academic knowledge is produced and what is deemed to be part of the political sphere. We discuss how memory work can open up different forms of knowledge and new ways of learning. At the same time, we put forth the problems encountered and the resistance among the students we worked with. By analyzing the reactions and processes that were initiated by the memory work, we discuss both how gender and nationalism are reproduced and incorporated into understandings of what counts as proper political science and point out under what circumstances these conventional notions can be challenged.

Collective Memory Work: A Method for Turning Adult Learners’ Work-Life Experiences Into a Rich Collective Knowledge Resource in Higher Education

“…Contrary to the way social identities are conceptualized by their additive and independent functioning, formulation of intersectionality posits that experiences emerge because of the interaction among social categories (race, gender, and class) and their relation to each other. Crenshaw (1991) suggests that, Intersectional subordination need not be intentionally produced; in fact, it is frequently the education (Kokko, 2009(Kokko, , 2012, and political science (Jansson et al, 2009).…”

“…The articles are therefore all written on the basis of the teachers/researchers’ own experiences with turning the CMW research method into a teaching approach. The review shows that CMW has been used in higher education in many countries (Grimwood & Johnson, 2019; Hamm, 2018; Kokko, 2009; Pattman, 2012) and in a variety of higher education contexts, such as tourism studies (Grimwood & Johnson, 2019; Small et al, 2011), sociology (Pattman, 2012), teacher education (Kokko, 2009, 2012), and political science (Jansson et al, 2009).…”

Kunskapsöverföring i det självständiga arbetet

“…I materialet finns även flera exempel på begreppsrelaterad negativ överföring, som när studenterna överför (ibland missuppfattade) ideal och begrepp från en positivistisk tradition till det vetenskapliga fältet som helhet. Detta kan tolkas som en följd av en "common sense"-förståelse av vad som utgör "riktig" vetenskap, där begrepp som objektivitet, distans, testbarhet, mätbarhet och reproducerbarhet är centrala (jfr Jansson, Wendt & Åse, 2009). En uppsatsförfattare funderar exempelvis på att leta efter en teori som kan belysa förskjutningar i det empiriska materialet, men är orolig för att överge sin objektivitet och vill inte "lägga en värdering i det" (Kim, intervju 30/4, 2020).…”

Common-Sense Notions of “Nation”: A Challenge for Teaching

“…That understanding depicts Sweden as a place where equality governs social relations between women and men and between social classes (Å se 2009;Löfgren 1991;Towns 2002). Swedish nationalism is often portrayed as non-nationalistic.…”