The problematization of agency in postmodern theory: as feminist educational researchers, where do we go from here?

This paper reports on the discussion at a recent ‘salon’ on feminist agency. The views of the two invited speakers, who raised concerns about the impact of post‐modernism on political projects, are reported. The content of the general discussion around subjectivity, agency and structure are then set out. The group struggled with the possibilities and limitations of theory in these areas. In discussing how feminist theory might be taken forward, the group stressed the centrality and necessity of collectivities as enabling resistance and other expressions of agency. The group felt that further exploration and analysis of the notion of and feelings of selfhood are necessary to adequately conceptualize individual and collective agency, and the way in which structure inflects such agency and collectivities. Such work would also need to attend to issues of ‘difference’ such as social class and ethnicity, and to the emotional and/or psychic dimension involved in our construction of agency and selfhood. Notes On this occasion the salon collective are: Louise Archer, Elizabeth Burn, Becky Francis, Rosalyn George, Valerie Hey, Janet Holland, Merryn Hutchings, Carole Leathwood, Helen Lucy, Cass Mitchell‐Riddle, Heather Mendick, and Diane Reay. Louise Archer took the notes and typed them up, and we are extremely grateful to her for doing so. Becky Francis did the original drafting of these into ‘article’ form, and this was then circulated to the group (along with the original notes for cross‐reference) for comment and amendment. For a discussion of post‐structuralist positions concerning selfhood and the deconstruction of the coherent self, see Jones (1997 Jones, A. (1997). Teaching poststructuralist theory in education: student resistances. Gender & Education, 9: 261–269. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Although not discussed in the salon, readers may also find Moi (1999 Moi T (1999) What is a woman? And other essays (Oxford University Press, New York) [Google Scholar]) a useful text for taking forward issues around agency. As suggested by one reviewer, Adrienne Rich's ‘Notes towards a politics of location’ (Rich, 1986 Rich A (1986) Notes towards a politics of location in: A. Rich Blood, bread and poetry: the ­location of the poet, 1986 (New York, Norton) [Google Scholar]) gives useful insights regarding issues of multiple placing.