The Social Life of a Herstory Textbook

This book studies the possibility for feminist educational change by examining a case study on the social life of a French gender and women history textbook. Massilia Ourabah opens a unique and timely dialogue between two antagonistic sociological trends: institutionalism and actor-network theory (ANT), and more specifically the inhabited institution approach and the sociology of translation. The structure of the book is dual: it offers one version of the case study grounded in the institutionalist approach, and another version grounded in the translational approach. The goal is to show that through the introduction of institutional elements and the rejection of some of ANT's strongest assumptions, the critical value of ANT can be restored and prove a useful framework for studying sociomaterial networks in education. The book also engages with feminist pedagogy and discusses the implications of the case study for the prospect of a more gender-balanced educational curriculum.

Brings together feminist studies, institutional theory and science and technology studies to explore gender mainstreaming in curriculum and feminist-influenced educational change Uses the French history textbook La place des femmes dans l'histoire: Une histoire mixte (2010) as a case study, critically evaluates the possibility and/or difficulty of gender-mainstreaming the content of public education Uniquely offers two versions of the 'social life' of the textbook: one from an institutionalist perspective, the other from an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) perspective

Autorentext

Massilia Ourabah is a PhD researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She is conducting a doctoral thesis on gender and eco-friendly reproductive labour. Her main research focus is gender and forms of civic participation, but she has also written on gender and family norms in French family migration policies.

Inhalt
Chapter1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. A story of individuals and institutional contexts, lessons from institutionalism.- Chapter 3. A story of translations and materiality, lessons from actor-network theory.- Chapter 4. Conclusion.