Silent Masculinity: The Discursive Interplay of Gender and White Logic in Alberta’s K-6 Draft Curriculum

Sarah Joan Clifford

doi:10.22151/politikon.55.3

Authors

Sarah Joan Clifford Independent Researcher https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5799-7214

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.55.3

Keywords:

Alberta, Canada, Curriculum, Masculinity, Policies as Gendering, Whiteness, WPR

Abstract

This paper presents a discursive analysis of the gendering of Alberta’s K-6 Social Studies draft curriculum. It examines if and to what extent the social studies curriculum promotes a gender-less portrayal of history buttressed by a façade of diversity and inclusion. In borrowing from Carol Bacchi’s theories of “what’s the problem represented to be” (WPR) and policies as gendering, it focuses on the discursive positioning of gendered norms and knowledge structures within the curriculum to unearth how the curriculum cultivates traditional masculinist and settler-colonial forms of historical truth while silencing those who contradict these narratives (1999; 2017). Through paying attention to the inclusion of binary gendered representation, their contextual underpinnings, and where gendered absences are positioned, the paper uncovers how the curriculum promotes a return to historical narratives predicated on patriarchal and white thought that pose dire implications for student’s conceptualization(s) of their and their province’s identities.

Author Biography

Sarah Joan Clifford, Independent Researcher

Sarah Clifford is an independent researcher based in Canada and is currently working in the non-governmental context on international programming for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Her research explores the intersections of gender, visuality, and education through a post-structuralist lens.

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