We Are a Community of Practice, Not a Paradigm! How to Meaningfully Integrate Gender and Feminist Approaches in IR Syllabi

Author(s):  
Maïka Sondarjee

Abstract The most frequent practice in teaching western undergraduate students about international relations (IR) is either to avoid gender studies altogether or at best to compartmentalize them to a single week. This practice marginalizes feminist research by amalgamating highly heterogeneous publications under the pretense that “they look at gender.” Rather than treating gender studies as a unified research program, they should be linked to the full range of theories, approaches, or topics they are relevant to, based on their normative and ontological assumptions. In the end, gender-oriented scholars do not form a would-be paradigm, but a community of practice. This community, however, can itself perpetuate colonial exclusions and silencing. This study is based on a content analysis of fifty western undergraduate “Introduction to IR” syllabi from 2015 to 2020, as well as a reflection on my own experience since 2011 as a student, teaching assistant, guest lecturer, and professor in ten IR courses at three western universities.

1977 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. Rosenau ◽  
Gary Gartin ◽  
Edwin P. McClain ◽  
Dona Stinziano ◽  
Richard Stoddard ◽  
...  

Based on a content analysis of 2,915 paragraphs randomly selected from 26 introductory international relations (IR) textbooks and syllabi for 178 introductory IR courses given in the United States during 1972–1973, the article probes the dimensions of world politics to which undergraduate students are introduced, the analytic skills to which they are exposed, and the incentives with which they are provided for investigating the subject. It was found that no single text dominates the teaching of IR; that the available texts do not differ greatly in their coverage and emphases (though some exceptions were identified along a few dimensions); that they depict IR as state-centered and founded on conflict; and that they are not conspicuous in their effort to equip students with modern analytic skills or to motivate them to view IR as an exciting subject worthy of intense and careful investigation.


1995 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol L. Baird ◽  
Nora L. Bensko ◽  
Paul A. Bell ◽  
Wayne Viney ◽  
William Douglas Woody

Perceptions of sexual harassment were investigated as a function of perpetrators' and recipients' gender. Undergraduate students (100 women, 98 men) were presented 34 scenarios of men and women interacting at work. Participants were asked to read carefully each scenario and indicate on a scale anchored by 1 (strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree) their opinions as to whether the scenario represented an incident of sexual harassment. Analysis indicated that women rated “hostile environment” scenarios as more harassing than men, and male perpetrators were rated as more harassing than female perpetrators. Even though some scenarios were rated as more harassing than others, the full range of the 7-point scale was used on every scenario, indicating a lack of agreement on what constitutes harassment. This lack of agreement highlights the debate within the legal community about whether the “reasonable person” or the “reasonable woman” standard should be used to judge sexual harassment in the workplace.


2006 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrícia Picon ◽  
Gabriel J. Chittó Gauer ◽  
Jandyra M. G. Fachel ◽  
Deborah C. Beidel ◽  
Ana C. Seganfredo ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE: Theoretical and empirical analysis of items and internal consistency of the Portuguese-language version of Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI-Portuguese). METHODS: Social phobia experts conducted a 45-item content analysis of the SPAI-Portuguese administered to a sample of 1,014 university students. Item discrimination was evaluated by Student's t test; interitem, mean and item-to-total correlations, by Pearson coefficient; reliability was estimated by Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: There was 100% agreement among experts concerning the 45 items. On the SPAI-Portuguese 43 items were discriminative (p < 0.05). A few inter-item correlations between both subscales were below 0.2. The mean inter-item correlations were: 0.41 on social phobia subscale; 0.32 on agoraphobia subscale and 0.32 on the SPAI-Portuguese. Item-to-total correlations were all higher then 0.3 (p < 0.001). Cronbach's alphas were: 0.95 on the SPAI-Portuguese; 0.96 on social phobia subscale; 0.85 on agoraphobia subscale. CONCLUSION: The 45-item content analysis revealed appropriateness concerning the underlying construct of the SPAI-Portuguese (social phobia, agoraphobia) with good discriminative capacity on 43 items. The mean inter-item correlations and reliability coefficients demonstrated the SPAI-Portuguese and subscales internal consistency and multidimensionality. No item was suppressed in the SPAI-Portuguese but the authors suggest that a shortened SPAI, in its different versions, could be an even more useful tool for research settings in social phobia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-329
Author(s):  
Renan Holanda Montenegro

Nos últimos anos, houve uma proliferação de livros e artigos sobre aspectos diversos da atuação internacional da China, como relações comerciais, investimentos, participação em novos fóruns multilaterais, questões de defesa, etc. Por outro lado, existe uma relativa ausência de textos introdutórios resumidos sobre a política externa do país, principalmente em língua portuguesa. O presente trabalho busca preencher essa lacuna por meio de uma análise de três aspectos centrais para se compreender a China na contemporaneidade sob lentes macro: 1) a existência de uma grande estratégia; 2) o desenho administrativo interno e os principais atores de política externa; e 3) os instrumentos à disposição para se perseguir os objetivos internacionais do país. Estudantes de graduação de Relações Internacionais – e de Ciências Sociais em geral – em estágio inicial de contato com temas sobre a China são o público-alvo, além de outros possíveis interessados no assunto.     Abstract: Over the last years there has been a proliferation of books and articles on various aspects of China's international performance, such as trade relations, investment, participation in new multilateral arenas, defense issues, etc. On the other hand, there is a relative lack of summary introductory texts on the country's foreign policy, mainly in Portuguese. This paper seeks to fill this gap by analyzing three central aspects to understand China in the contemporary world under macro lens: 1) the existence of a great strategy; 2) the internal administrative division and the main foreign policy actors; and 3) the instruments available to pursue the country's international objectives. International Relations undergraduate students – and those of Social Sciences in general – in the initial stage of contact with topics related to China are the target audience, in addition to other people interested in the subject. Keywords: China. State and Government. Foreign Policy. International Relations.     Recebido em: maio/2019. Aprovado em: agosto/2019.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 58-74
Author(s):  
Dustin Johnson

In this paper I aim to provide a critical analysis of how Vancouver Principle (VP) 11 on the Contribution of Women to preventing the recruitment and use of child soldiers addresses gender and women’s involvement in peacekeeping. Critical feminist research on gender and war, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, and international relations has examined and critiqued the important ways in which gender underlies, informs, and helps give meaning to matters of international peace and security. I draw on this diverse literature to discuss how VP 11 approaches gender and peacekeeping in a way that is at times problematic and at others nuanced and progressive, and provide concrete recommendations for how critical feminist insights can improve the implementation of the Vancouver Principles. The importance of understanding gender dynamics for peacekeeping in general, and for preventing the recruitment and use of children as soldiers in particular, necessitates more nuanced approaches to gender analysis and women’s participation. The implementation of VP 11 can support both of these areas.


2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie A. Henninger ◽  
Julie Lounds Taylor

Abstract When researchers evaluate adult outcomes for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD), the perspective of families is not always considered. Parents of individuals with IDD (N  =  198) answered an online survey about their definition of a successful transition to adulthood. Content analysis was used to describe themes and ideas present in the responses. Rather than focusing only on developmental tasks of adulthood, such as living independently, being competitively employed, and maintaining friendships, responses reflected a more varied and dynamic view of success in adulthood, taking into account the fit between the person with IDD and his or her environment. As services are developed and implemented for adults with IDD, it is important to consider the full range of goals that families have for their son or daughter's successful transition to adulthood.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Riddell ◽  
Alisha Brown ◽  
Lynne Robins ◽  
Rafae Nauman ◽  
Jeanette Yang ◽  
...  

Introduction: Twitter is growing in popularity and influence among emergency physicians (EP), with over 2200 self-identified EP users. As Twitter’s popularity has increased among EPs so too has its influence. While there has been debate about the value of Twitter as an effective educational delivery tool, little attention has been paid to the nature of the conversation occurring on Twitter. We aim to describe how influential EPs use Twitter by characterizing the language, purpose, frequencies, content, and degree of engagement of their tweets. Methods: We performed a mixed-methods analysis following a combined content analysis approach. We conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses of a sample of tweets from the 61 most influential EPs on Twitter. We present descriptive tweet characteristics and noteworthy themes. Results: We analyzed 1375 unique tweets from 57 unique users, representing 93% of the influential Twitter EPs. A majority of tweets (1104/1375, 80%) elicited some response in the form of retweets, likes, or replies, demonstrating community engagement. The qualitative analysis identified 15 distinct categories of tweets. Conclusion: Influential EPs on Twitter were engaged in largely medical conversations in which most messages generated some form of interaction. They shared resources and opinions while also building social rapport in a community of practice. This data can help EPs make informed decisions about social media engagement.


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