by Allison Bumsted, PhD., Adjunct Associate Professor, Humanities

We often are directed to look out the windows nearest to us to see what is happening in our world –glimpses of events provided through various media forms and neighboring opinions. Although at times it seems like a lot, we do not realize how much more of the world lies beyond our little window of knowledge or how much we need to explore to better understand ourselves and the world. As a former social studies teacher and current humanities professor, I know we can never know it all, we can never be “the end all be all be all” for students, and at times, in an effort to broaden students’ knowledge, we provide a narrow window for students to gaze through. However, what if we provided students with real-life experiences from around the world that differ from theirs and from ours–opening doors for students, instead of them gazing through a well-meaning stationary window?

The Global Gender & Women’s Studies FLC did just that–it opened a door for not only myself but for my students. It provided our cohort with brilliant guest speakers that not only brought us knowledge that was new to us, but real-life experiences and challenges that are indelible. It is easy to read and find headlines around the world that help us understand certain perspectives of events and issues, but it is invaluable to actually hear someone speak directly to you about their time fighting for equal gender rights in India, putting one’s self in danger by reporting on issues facing women in Kenya, sharing experiences of their research of transgender experiences in the Baltic region, and also having the opportunity to ask these fascinating speakers direct questions.

Of course, this FLC provided us not only with brilliant guest speakers but also a chance for us to work together as a cohort–developing lessons and asking questions about each other’s work. As my group was small, I felt great freedom presenting my project to my partner who asked me challenging questions to help ensure what I was delivering to my students was the best possible lesson I could. I also was able to gain ideas from what others were developing. The idea is not to guard your intellectual property here, if you do not want to share that, then do not bring it to the table, but rather grow and really encourage the best possible chance for our students to open many doors to the world, rather than window watching bits of knowledge as they learn in life. What was particularly brilliant is that all of us participants were from differing subject matters, backgrounds, and genders ourselves; Only encouraging us to have deeper discussions.

I began this program last August with the intention of designing a course, but rather, I refined a lesson on feminism to be more inclusive and global. In humanities, we teach the unique ability for humans to express themselves through many creative works, and I wanted to include non-Western works and challenge the students’ ideas of feminism–what it means or does not mean to women in other places beyond the West. Thus, I revised and added to my lesson, and I may not have created what I did without joining an FLC that encouraged me to really think about concepts globally. For example, although, in the past, I defined the concept of white feminism with students, students did not conclude that Western feminism may not work for differing cultures around the world–they simply considered white and black American women. Thus, I wanted to show students that the concept of feminism differed and was not always accepted by other cultures. In doing so, not only did we read Western expressions of feminism, but we explored Nigerian and South African ones too (through reading and video). We compared Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2014 We Should All Be Feminists to Elma Akob’s 2022 “The Dangers of Western Feminism to African Women.” Both women came from very different backgrounds (helping further challenge the misconceptions that African people share one culture), and both women had very different understandings of feminism–Akob rejected the idea and adopted the idea of “Womanism.” Akob lives in a country that still is grappling with the lasting effects of Apartheid, Ngozi Adichie lives in a country that has a strong patriarchal grip over the lives of women and criminalizes the LGBTQ+ community. Students seemed to be drawn more to Ngozi Adichie’s speech, as it does seem to resonate with Western feminism, but for the first time saw that an idea does not perfectly apply to all. A concept that seems to bring forward feminism may not be needed in the same way for a matriarchal society. That an idea rooted in a society that may be in a different stage of progress, cannot especially apply to another country or society that has not progressed at the same pace or in the same manner.

After bringing in voices and direct experiences from two non-western countries, two female African voices, from two different African countries, with different histories, laws, and cultural norms, the students were asked to consider their experiences, what they believed or felt connected with, and if they felt they were feminists, or needed to further explore the concept around the world. A door was opened for them to respectfully share their experiences with their peers and possibly see into differing windows of experience. This same style of comparison can be carried across courses with appropriate source materials for one to present their students (whatever topic is being explored).

If you are reading this blog post and still deciding whether you should take the time to learn and grow with the Global Gender and Women’s Studies FLC, you should know this professional development did not feel like homework or time-consuming. It asks you to stop peering out your familiar window and grapple with issues, concerns, and experiences around the world, and for you to open a door full of global perspectives for your classes. After all, our students deserve it.