Questions of gratitude: Storying transformative and curricular relationships with women’s experiences and lives

Abstract

Often a moment of time can influence the tone and content of one’s work. We initially conceived of what would become this special symposium in 2017. In the United States, Hillary Clinton had become the first cisgender woman nominated for the presidency, three women of colour were elected to the US Senate, and it was proposed that Harriet Tubman replace Andrew Jackson on the 20-dollar bill. Women in the US were receiving recognition in so many ways. Then came the election of Donald Trump. The air was thick with despair. But, one of the largest women’s marches in US history followed to protest the election results. The year 2017 also witnessed the #MeToo movement, followed by the 2018 #TimesUp protests. The societal shifts happening were breath-taking, and we, the editors of this symposium, were buoyed, filled with optimism and gratitude. We envisioned a special symposium alongside these movements, in which we and our contributors would herald our gratitude for the many women who had inspired us over the years. Our focus on women’s ideas and feminist and gendered issues would be responsive to insights concerning the ongoing need to include women’s voices in the curriculum (Grumet, 1988; Hendry, 2011; Miller, 2005). Too often in our highly competitive-individualistic Western contexts, we do not sufficiently acknowledge those with whom we have/had relations, whether in person or through their work. Indeed, writing now, in 2021, we remain aware of how much educational scholarship continues to emphasize the work of male scholars and also continues to manifest a certain “anxiety of influence.” When asked who her own key influences were, science fiction writer LeGuin (2004) responded: