(En)Gendering Multicultural Identities and Representations in Education

Abstract This article examines the place of women of the world in the implicit and explicit social studies curriculum of the schools. The authors establish a postcolonial feminist framework for dealing with this topic and draw on evidence from personal testimonies of immigrant and native women, the treatment of women of the “third world” by mainstream media, social studies curriculum standards, and one classroom teacher's story. Central to the article is an examination of the tension teachers face in dealing with issues of gender cross-culturally as they navigate between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism towards what is called “the middle ground.” The authors offer suggestions at the end of the article for incorporating material about women of the world into the social studies curriculum from a postcolonial feminist perspective.