1206 | 781 | situating feminist perspectives in dutch human geography and planning education: towards a re-engendered teaching agenda | Dr. Marielle Zill and Dr. Krisztina Varró
Since its emergence nearly forty years ago, feminist geography in the Netherlands has become an established research field and well-integrated into undergraduate geography curricula (Drooglever-Fortuijn 2019). However, the inclusion of feminist geographic perspectives into teaching remains dependent on the commitment of individual members of staff facing indifference or even outright hostility at the neoliberal university. Against this background and informed by the recent ‘intensification of feminist awareness’ (Thomas and Novas, 2022), this paper discusses renewed efforts to re-engender human geography teaching at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. The paper argues that such efforts need to be grounded in a better understanding of and reflexive engagement with the context-specific trajectories and practices of feminist knowledge production. To this end, the paper draws on archival research and oral history accounts and zooms in on the role and main research concerns of key Dutch feminist geographers, as well as on the broader knowledge networks they have been embedded in and the impact they have had on teaching agendas. On this basis, the paper reflects on the situated opportunities and challenges of re-investing curricula with feminist thinking in the Dutch context, including, amongst others, the legacies of Dutch human geography as an applied discipline (van Hoven, 2009), as well as its relative lack of attention to aspects of intersectionality.
Dr. Marielle Zill and Dr. Krisztina Varró
Human Geography & Planning Department, Utrecht University
ID Abstract: 781