The Gendered History of Bildung as Concept and Practice: A Speculative Feminist Analysis

This chapter uses an affirmative speculative feminist lens to rethink the history, purpose and future promise of Bildung. It uses a concept as method approach to trace the pedagogical life of Bildung. It maps its proliferations in discourse and discusses how it helped shape educational practice, particularly by producing unequal educational opportunities for girls and women. On a broader scale, feminist analysis reveals that Bildung has been instrumental in promoting Western-centric, individualistic, masculinist and colonialist modes of understanding and knowledge making. However, Bildung also possesses promise for feminist educational praxis. Its flexibility and openness as an educational concept means that, in affiliation with feminism, Bildung has the potential to promote more inclusive, socially just educational practices. A feminist Bildung might also have a more expansive educative potential to develop ethical and political forms of citizenship which engage with global, ecological challenges.