Critiquing the Rhetoric of "Safety" in Feminist Pedagogy: Women of Color Offering an Account of Ourselves

ries and practices inform how we teach within a feminist classroom. Very little research has been done, however, to illuminate the challenges of embodying feminist pedagogical practices that address the locationality and subjective positions of women faculty of color. According to Christine Stanley, [t]here is very little empirical research on the teaching experiences of faculty of color in predominantly white colleges and universities . . . [and] . . . most salient themes identified . . . relate to student attitudes and behaviors inside and outside the (19). In this paper, we critique the rhetoric of safety in feminist pedagogy. We use our own lived experiences and perceptions of safety, or lack of it, to disrupt and interrogate ways in which the hegemonic power of the dominant discourse in academic culture in general, and feminist pedagogy in particular, is embedded in constructing, naming, and defining feminist teaching and classroom environments.