Name: Feminist Pedagogy as Liberatory Practice
Start: 2026-10-09T10:30:00-0400
End: 2026-10-09T11:35:00-0400

All sessions are available online except round tables, special activities, and workshops.

Feminist Pedagogy as Liberatory Practice

Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT

3 Room I

ID: 34013

Equity and inclusion have recently become contentious topics on college campuses, but in the classroom, the expectation for student-centered learning remains constant. As educators navigate the tension between increased scrutiny of their teaching practices and eroding higher education institutions, pedagogy is at an inflection point. Institutional incentives to perpetuate the status quo abound; now more than ever, the educational is political.This panel calls for an analysis of power in and outside the classroom, and a confrontation of the patriarchal and oppressive underpinnings of traditional pedagogy. Despite a renewed focus on inclusion in the classroom, many teaching practices still center the professor-as-expert; promote a canon of white, Western-centric ways of knowing; and perpetuate a violent culture of individualism. Mainstream discourse around student-centered learning tends to reinforce hegemonic power structures and place the burden of change on educators rather than on institutions. To foster learning environments that are marked by belonging, agency, and connection, and to prepare students for an increasingly complex society, inclusive teaching practices must be accompanied by an analysis of power, both in the classroom and in the world around them.Feminist pedagogy is a framework that places questions of power, inequality, and justice at the center of teaching. Feminist scholar and educator bell hooks, informed by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, defined feminist pedagogy as a liberatory practice that fosters critical thinking and provides students with the tools to question inequality and social structures. hooks framed the pursuit of learning as intertwined with the pursuit of liberation, and elevates educators as as catalysts for transformation who should foster love and justice. There is no precise formula for practicing feminist pedagogy; it comprises a set of unifying themes such as reducing the classroom power gap, viewing students as active participants in their education, addressing systems of oppression, and challenging those systems through a democratized classroom.This panel aims to highlight ways in which feminist pedagogical practices are currently shaping education, and explore ethical and practical challenges that educators face in their teaching. Emerging from the collaborative book project Feminist Designer: On the Personal and the Political in Design (MIT Press, 2023), which illuminates design as a feminist practice, we propose a moderated dialogue featuring five educators working at the intersections of art, design, and technology, each from diverse backgrounds and institutions in and outside the U.S. Each panelist arrives at this conversation through the unique lens of their own identities and experiences as educators, administrators, practicing designers, mothers, social workers, queer folx, and people of color. Topics to be addressed include power relations in the classroom; care as a pedagogical method; culturally responsive mentorship; curricula and projects that center social justice; where feminist and decolonial perspectives merge; and enacting change within institutions. Panelists will share a plurality of approaches to implementing feminist ways of knowing and doing in the classroom that could be applicable to any discipline. With an emphasis on collaboration and community, we aim to generate an open dialogue about education as a liberatory practice for both students and educators.

Speakers

Heather Snyder Quinn

Associate Professor, DePaul University

Heather Snyder Quinn, MFA is an Associate Professor of Design and Civics Institute Teacher-Scholar. She was named a 2024 “Researcher to Know” by the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition and serves on the board of directors for DePaul’s Institute for Business and Professional... Read More →

Ayako Takase

Associate Professor, Rhode Island School of Design

Ayako Takase is a designer and educator who centers their practice on creating experiences and objects that foster meaningful, emotive connections with people, culture, and audiences. Her life is a mixture of east and west—her early upbringing in Japan fostered an appreciation of... Read More →

Jeff Kasper

Associate Professor, UMass Amherst

Jeff Kasper is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and educator, specializing in public art, design, community education, and social engagement. He creates text-based projects, experimental publications, games, audio storytelling, open editions, exhibitions, and workshops, often... Read More →

Alison Place

Assistant Professor Educator, University of Cincinnati

Alison Place is a designer, educator, and writer whose work explores the intersection of design and feminist theory as a space for critical making and radical speculation. She is the author of Feminist Designer: On the Personal and the Political in Design (MIT Press 2023), which illuminates... Read More →

Sarah Rutherford

Associate Professor, Cleveland State University

Sarah Rutherford is an Associate Professor of Design and the Undergraduate Director of Design at Cleveland State University and a former President of AIGA Cleveland. She researches, writes, and speaks about pedagogy and learning in higher education. She holds a Master of Fine Arts... Read More →

Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Panel

Speaker Modality In-person
Track Catalyzing Human Connection Creativity and Curiosity to Thrive

Tickets

Success you have shared X tickets.

OEGlobal 2026

Heather Snyder Quinn

Ayako Takase

Jeff Kasper

Alison Place

Sarah Rutherford

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Success you have shared X tickets.

OEGlobal 2026

Heather Snyder Quinn

Ayako Takase

Jeff Kasper

Alison Place

Sarah Rutherford

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