The challenge of a dissertation project in critical pedagogy suggests transformative theory integrally connected to reflective action and innovative praxis.
The term 'dissertation' implies, to many, a piece of pure research, or an effort at theory generation, that will be shared only with other academics….For the doctoral projects students will be encouraged to develop materials, implement innovations and improve practices. We intend to give students the widest possible scope, consistent with standards of academic integrity and scholarly inquiry, to work on projects that will make real change in the communities that they serve. (UST Critical Pedagogy Prospectus, 1998, p. 7)
Encouraged by this definition, I saw a dissertation project creating possibilities for a dynamic, interactive, cooperative theory based in reflective actions responsive and accountable to the literacy and feminist communities with whom I work. The project to create a network to develop and distribute women-centered literacy materials would contribute to making real change.
As outlined in Claiming My Place, the journey from my place in feminist bookselling into connections in the literacy field furthered my commitment towards developing women-centered literacy materials. Because of my experiences with WLTR and my encounters with literacy workers, a clearer vision about creating and distributing women-centered literacy materials started to take shape. In Something in My Mind, I outlined how my reading of the literature in literacy, adult education, critical pedagogies, feminism, and so on deepened my understanding of women’s literacy issues. I began to lay a theoretical foundation for questioning the absence of women-centered literacy materials and to reflect on how access to such materials could positively transform adult women’s learning and reading. The voices and views of women learners were emerging through the book groups and discussions with literacy workers. Women learners needed to be included more directly. For women-centered (feminist) literacy materials to have any integrity as something beneficial and important to the users of those materials, it became necessary to seek opinions and direction from women learners to guide the next steps.
To pursue this within the context of a dissertation project in critical pedagogy, a research framework1 and process that considers power issues, distribution and creation of knowledge, and allows potential transformative actions consistent with the spirit of feminist consciousness-raising, Freirean conscientização, feminist and critical pedagogies, basic tenets of qualitative research, and anti-oppression activism was used. The principles of (feminist) participatory action research (F-PAR) as an alternative paradigm for doing research has been adapted to this context. The work of Patricia Maguire (1987) has been the primary methodological source with additional guides from the theoretical and practical work of Orlando Fals-Borda (1991), Egon Guba & Lincoln (1989), V. Joyappa & D.J. Martin (1996), and Elsa Auerbach (1996).
From this reading, I understand participatory action research from a feminist approach to be rooted in these elements:
1) The participants understand gender-awareness exists at the core of the process yet recognize as critical the intersections with multiple systems of oppression&emdash;racism, classism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, etc.
2) the researcher is not the holder of the knowledge&emdash;all the participants in the project contribute to the knowledge base, participate in creating knowledge, reflect on their changing experiences of self-knowledge, benefit from knowledges made evident through the spirals of theory and action
3) the participants are not objects who research is conducted on but rather the subjects of the inquiry who set the agenda, participate in the data collection and analysis, and control the use of the outcomes, including deciding what future actions to take or directions to go
4) the power relationships remain continuously under scrutiny and the process involves participants in the use, distribution, and/or transformation of power
5) the intricate links between research and action; theory and praxis; knowing and doing remain continuously acknowledged and developed in a spiral of activity involving planning, acting, observing, and reflecting
6) the aim is "…to develop critical consciousness, to improve lives of those involved in the research process, and to transform fundamental societal structures and relationships." (Maguire, 1997, p. 3).
Maguire makes clear there is no one right way to do participatory research as it depends on the context of the situation. "Participatory research principles are not purist. You can't sit and wait for the ideal situation. Waiting to do it right is paralyzing" (Rajesh Tandon as quoted by Maguire, 1997, p. 127). No single method exists as PAR involves a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodological tools&emdash;indeed, what is primarily important is the set of principles fostering social movement and transformation (Joyappa & Martin, 1996, p. 5). Participatory action allows for a spiral of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting &emdash;investigation, education, action.
In many ways, this dissertation project primarily deals with the social investigation part of the spiraling process while making suggestions towards education and action. As was discussed at the end of Claiming My Place, this dissertation project forwards the momentum of growing a network to create and distribute women-centered literacy materials. To that end, it has three specific goals.
The first and most important goal has been to recognize, raise-up and bring centrality to the voices of women learners about their views of reading materials. This has included a process of learning a process or as Freire suggests, the "search for this program dialogically with the people" (1997, p. 105). Through collaboratively working with a variety of learning sites and tactics both short and long term, varying possibilities for learner participation and leadership would emerged.
The second goal focused on continuing to build interactions with literacy workers, expanding to include librarians, and to further develop their participation as well. They are allies for connections not only to learners but also with other literacy workers and librarians. Literacy workers hold knowledge and insight into the structures affecting adult women’s literacies.
The final goal has been to outline and create a simple networking structure to become the preliminary transformative action in order to make the knowledges of women learners and literacy workers visible and to make accessible the information developing about women-centered literacy materials. All three goals have been realized through several activities &emdash;discreet yet mutually informative&emdash; and developed through a spiral of reflection to action to reflection. Because this research has been multifaceted, finding a way to present it clearly has been a challenge. This section will outline the overall framework and specific activities used to accomplish the three goals outlined above (see Appendix Visual Representation).
Naming WE LEARN
My initial vision of starting a feminist literacy publishing company has been radically transformed over the past few years through the activities outlined in Claiming My Place. What became clear from the Spring 2000 research with literacy workers and previous work by Marilyn Kay Gillespie (1991), has been a need for some resource space to act as a clearinghouse and information sharing network. It seemed important at this stage to have an organizational framework that would be easily identifiable and a place to share the information accumulating about women-centered literacy materials. Contributing to the participatory process and distribution of power, an important function of this dissertation project has been to find ways of making information and the benefits of the research available to the immediate participants and to the literacy community in general. Gathering this information under a recognizable name that would eventually grow into an actual organization became part of the dissertation project.
After spending a number of months playing with options and collaborating with a number of literacy workers, we settled on a name that would be recognizable and suitable&emdash;WE LEARN.
This name has been also attached to a quickly drawn graphic portraying the webbing of relationships and activities that have become a part of the dissertation project. One goal of this graphic has been to visualize a non-hierarchical power structure that centralizes learner involvement and allows for a variety of action projects or possibilities for growing the knowledge about and development of women-centered literacy materials. It also allows the possibilities for other yet-to-be-determined activities. The organization has been incorporated in the state of Minnesota but steps still need to be taken to establish it as a formal non-profit organization.
Website
The primary physical location for WE LEARN has been the website (www.litwomen.org/WLindex.html). It was first placed on the Internet in the Spring of 2001 as the immediate tool for some of the communication and information gathering and sharing. Initially, the skeleton website included: (a) the Women Leading Through Reading book group training tools (www.litwomen.org/wltr.html), (b) the initial Resource List developed from the Spring 2000 questionnaires (Miller, 2000), (c) the revised questionnaires for literacy workers and librarians, and (d) a mailing list form. It also presented the graphic above and included a brief description about the potential goals and future for WE LEARN.
In October of 2001, the site was radically redesigned and updated with more complete information. In a color-coded, user-friendly, east-to-navigate set-up, it was designed to be used and interacted with by women learners and literacy workers and anyone else interested. This version included the first thematic summaries of the learner conversation circles. The website has included links, forms and information to encourage interaction, feedback, and contribution. The website has been advertised through literacy workers and librarians but a full-scale notification campaign is still needed. The WE LEARN website at that time also outlined the information being gathered through the research of the dissertation project that would be uploaded at its conclusion.
Computer technology and Internet resources have growing interest among literacy workers and educational ramifications for women learners. A WE LEARN website expedites immediate access to information. However, important issues exist with using the Internet&emdash;computer literacy, access to computer technology and gender inequalities related to the Internet. These issues of power and curriculum are important to recognize as they will challenge the overall effectiveness and accessibility of WE LEARN. These issues are explored in depth in Appendix Internet Technology.
Conversation Circles
Based on the culture circles of Paulo Freire (Freire & Macedo, 1987; Lankshear, 1993), conversation circles were perceived as a dialogic way to begin to work collaboratively with women learners through their learning centers. The conversation circles invited adult women learners into a dialog about reading materials of importance to them. In the conversation circles, adult women learners were invited to talk and write about what reading and literacy materials appeal to them. They were asked what they wanted to learn more about and what they wanted to read about. The full list of problem posing questions can be found in Knowledges in View: Women Learners. This project centralized learner insight and knowledge by encouraging adult women learners to consider what would make reading materials more appealing and accessible to them, while inviting women to consider creating their own writings.
This project acknowledged that women’s experiences, learning styles, and social-political issues may have some common denominators. However, "women" are not a homogenous group and "women’s experiences" are strongly affected and mediated by specific and general sociocultural factors (Anzaldúa, 1990; Brady & Hernández, 1993; Tisdell, 1993; Weiler, 1988 & 1994). For this reason, rather than do in-depth work with only two or three sites to then generalize descriptions of "women-centered" materials from there, multiple sites and opportunities were developed. In order to represent the voices, experiences, and diversities of "women" across a variety of communities, I identified multiple sites that accumulatively represented a diversity in age, race/ethnicity, disability, language, urban/rural location, educational goals, class and economic background (see Appendix Stats for demographics of the participants). Even with this attempt, several communities of women were noticeably absent&emdash;women with physical disabilities,2 incarcerated women,3 U.S. born Asian and Latina women, Deaf women, sex workers, women in transitional housing, rich and upper-middle class women, old women, and out lesbians. Several types of sites were also absent&emdash;rural locations, prisons, on-site workplace, library-based programs, and community-based or grassroots popular education programs.4
These conversation circles also considered in an overarching way, how to encourage women learners as participants and leaders in the process of creating and distributing women-centered literacy materials. How could WE LEARN move beyond "including" women learners but also bring their power, leadership and knowledges to the center&emdash;as the oppressed coming through conscientização to action on their behalf? Could a process of building a process be identified? What would this organization need to do to make real changes to transform the creation, distribution and use of women-centered literacy materials? This process would work collaboratively with women learners and literacy workers to discover those foundations and opportunities for fuller participation. A more detailed description of this overall process can be found in Knowledges in View: Women Learners.
Conferences
During the research gathering time period of this dissertation project, several (inter)national literacy conferences took place. Due to the large numbers of people from varying parts of the country and world that attend these conferences, they became an opportunity to include additional insights and viewpoints from women learners and literacy workers not reached by the conversation circles or literacy workers questionnaires. All of these conferences actively involve adult learners which could potentially increase the number of learner participants. Unlike the conversation circles at learning centers where the voluntary nature of women’s participation might be suspect, women learners at conferences would have more personal choice. Choosing to attend a conversation circle sponsored as a conference workshop, would indicate a higher interest in the topic.
Additionally, all of these conferences include resource exhibit areas. This provided additional opportunity for information gathering and title additions to the women-centered literacy materials Resource List. There were five conferences during the time period of this project included in this research:
More detailed descriptions of the process of the conversation circles can be found in Knowledges in View: Literacy Workers.
Because the process of building WE LEARN started through the input of literacy workers, it seemed essential to continue the process. The original questionnaire was revised based on the Spring 2000 responses (Miller, 2000). The list of titles in Section B (Specific Questions on Reading / Resource Materials) was shortened by eliminating titles unanimously unknown. A few new titles, including recommendations from Spring 2000, were added and the usage questions were modified. In Section C (What additional women-centered resources do you use?), additional questions were included to provide direction for WE LEARN:
- If literacy workers wrote reviews about the effectiveness of specific women-centered literacy materials, would you find this useful? Why or why not?
- Would you find the comments or reviews written by women learners on reading materials useful? Why or why not?
- Would you use a resource/networking center dedicated to women-centered literacy materials? Please comment on what would work best (e.g., printed newsletter, website, mailing list) and what it should do or include.
The availability of the revised questionnaire was announced in a number of ways.
These announcements also made clear that the questionnaire was available (by request) in hard copy by mail, through pdf sent via email, and downloadable from the WE LEARN website (see Appendix Litq - www.litwomen.org/litq.html). As a result of these efforts, nine additional completed responses were received.
The WE LEARN website included the option for visitors to join the WE LEARN mailing list. The sign-up form, included a few questions about materials as well as a question asking what they would want from WE LEARN as an organization (see Appendix M/L form). This option netted close to 33 completed responses and numerous inquiries. Though not a complete questionnaire, these space provided another option for response and input from people unable to complete the longer questionnaire.
Getting more completed questionnaires from literacy workers proved to be a difficult task. Many literacy workers teach only part-time and have too many demands placed on their limited time. According to several literacy workers I talked with, making the time to answer an hour-long questionnaire thoughtfully was too much. Therefore, I arranged with the moderator of the womenlit-nifl e-list to facilitate a conversation for 2 weeks as a guest moderator. The list sometimes sponsors guest facilitators in order to get conversation moving on specific topics within a designated period of time. Because it was getting close to the end of the school year and Memorial Day holiday, 2 consecutive weeks was not workable. Therefore, the conversation progressed for 1 week, then took a break. Two weeks later, the topic was reintroduced with a summary of the first week's discussion, and progressed for 1 more week. Sponsoring this e-list forum allowed the opportunity for additional voices and made space for those who would not have time to complete a full questionnaire.
A few other discussions with literacy workers added to the knowledge base from literacy workers. These included one-to-one interviews with two local literacy workers colleagues and conversations with 3 different groups of literacy workers who attended conference workshops.
The summary of all of the questionnaire responses and conversations can be found in Knowledges in View: Literacy Workers and on the educators page of the website.
There are a significant number of literacy programs located in libraries and many librarians have been or currently are literacy tutors or teachers. They also attend literacy conferences and participate on literacy e-lists. The American Library Association (ALA)6 has a large section designated to concerns for literacy, the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS). In addition to their interest in literacy issues, librarians bring the additional skills of listing all kinds of books and materials and being familiar with the kinds of literacy materials available and/or located in libraries. For these reasons, this research has extended the understanding of literacy workers to include librarians.
Based on the one for literacy workers, a separate questionnaire was devised specific to the library setting. The availability of the librarian questionnaire was announced in a number of ways.
These announcements also made clear that the librarian questionnaire was available (by request) in hard copy by mail, through pdf sent via email, and downloadable from the WE LEARN website (see Appendix Libq - www.litwomen.org/libq.html). In spite of all these efforts, only one completed questionnaire was received from a librarian. This was achieved through personal contact to a librarian who worked in a library with a large adult literacy section. That library had been praised by one of the women learners who participated in the Hubbs conversation circle. Two librarians participated extensively in one of the conference workshops. It is unclear why the response from librarians was so light. Rather than dwell on this, other librarian resources were sought. Several librarians have edited books including criteria for the selection of adult literacy materials and extensive bibliographies of those materials. The summary of the librarian questionnaire response and a review of librarian writings on literacy materials can be found in Knowledges in View: Literacy Workers and on the educators page of the website (www.litwomen.org/educ.html).
Since the early days of Women Leading Through Reading, I have been accumulating suggestions from literacy workers and women learners about the types of women-centered literacy materials they use. Recommended titles have come through conversations, questionnaires and other forms of communication. This work has continued through all the aspects of this dissertation research project. In addition to these resources, titles have been discovered through a number of venues including conference exhibits, librarian bibliographies, Internet surfing, publisher catalogs and so on. This has resulted in the compilation of a comprehensive and current Resource List of women-centered literacy materials. The list is annotated with information about the title, subject category, suggested level of use (if known), and availability.
The list is available in a searchable database on the website (free), downloadable in pdf format from the website, and will be made available in print format at a fee to cover expenses to those who want it. In an effort to keep it fresh, adult learners and literacy workers will be encouraged to keep adding to the list as well as offer their own reviews and reflections on the usability and quality of the materials listed. Even if WE LEARN does not immediately create new women-centered literacy materials, this listing alone will benefit adult women learners and the literacy workers reading with them.
2. Some of the women in the groups were learning disabled or had suffered brain injury or debilitating long-term health problems.
3. Though one site did include past offenders.
4. Though Resource Center of the Americas could be claimed as a Freirean-based program.
5. American Library Association - national professional organization of librarians
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Women's Literacy Power:
Collaborative Approaches to Developing and Distributing Women's
Literacy Resources
Mev Miller
Ed.D., Critical Pedagogy, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, MN USA
Copyright © Mev Miller, 2002
www.litwomen.org/welearn.html
welearn@litwomen.org