"That's problematic! Or is it?" Ways of talking about identity, critical thinking and emotion amongst gender studies students: an ethnographic study

Abstract

Common sensical knowledge, dominant norms, and power dynamics are up for debate in the field of gender studies. At the same time, in gender studies as in other academic fields, certain assumptions are seen as commonsensical, certain norms structure social practices and certain processes of exclusion and inclusion take place. It is plausible that these are strongly related to theoretical discourses that circulate in the field, since feminist scholars have stressed that theoretical knowledges need to be related to one’s perceptions and behaviors in a selfreflexive way. This qualitative research reflects on the way in which (recent) students in the field negotiate theoretical discourses and how this pertains to their lived convictions and social practices. It draws on interviews with six (recent) master’s students in gender studies at Utrecht University and ethnographic field work conducted at the NOISE summer school in 2019. The analysis focuses on the construction of narratives and arguments around identity, critical thinking and emotion in order to explore how discourses around these concepts affect social practices in the field. The informants seem to share a commitment to recognize embodied experiences of oppression, to unveil different and distinct forms of oppression and to oppose oppressive views. They negotiate discourses in a way that adheres to these shared commitments, which seems to create a sense of safety and community. At the same time, their arguments and narratives often assume an absence of (political) disagreements and draw on a binary understanding of power and oppression. In a time when gender studies and its relation to contemporary forms of activism are increasingly subject of public debate, it seems especially important to reflect on assumptions and social norms within gender studies and the purposes that they serve.