Critical reflection as feminist pedagogy: teaching feminist research in the field

Abstract

A recent trend in gender and development research has been to equip local researchers with the skills to design and implement research projects that meaningfully resonate with them and their communities. In 2017, the International Women’s Development Agency initiated a three-year research project on women’s pathways to leadership as a collaborative exercise with women’s grassroots organizations based in Cambodia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste, supported by established research practitioners (the authors). Taking Hollingsworth’s argument that teaching is itself a form of research, we present our findings on teaching non-traditional researchers in development contexts. We argue that a hallmark of feminist pedagogy must be critical reflection both on the structural conditions in which research is designed and implemented and on personal teaching practices.