Towards innovative teaching pedagogies in gender research: A review of a gender research methods class

Abstract

This commentary examines the teaching of research methods in Women and Gender Studies in the Gender Studies Unit of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. It interrogates how the course has increased the awareness of students in the methods of conducting research and how the research they conduct has implications on marginalized populations. The course also highlights the need for a growing body of knowledge that engages the experience of black women in Africa and the African diaspora. The course draws the attention of students to the agency of women through the reading and teaching of various research methods in Gender Studies. An ethnographic approach is adopted using participant  observation in the course covering a period of one semester. Also, a critical perspective is applied in discussing the particular epistemological  standpoint deployed by the course instructor. In other words, the black feminist epistemology serves as an important strategy for increasing global-minded consciousness of how a course in gender research methods engages the agency of black women using Hip Hop pedagogy.

Keywords: Gender Research Methods, Black Feminist Epistemology, Global-Minded, Black Consciousness, African Feminism.