“The Sisterhood is Watching”: Challenging Identity and Agency in Citizenship

Authors

  • Melody Viczko University of Alberta
  • Anna McClean University of Alberta

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20355/C5V88V

Abstract

“The Garneau Sisterhood is watching”, warns an impromptu poster in the Garneau community, following a police warning for women to take safety precautions subsequent to announcements of a serial rapist in the area. In this context, tensions exist between the individual, the state and the collective. In this interpretivist study, we invoke the lens of feminist theory to examine the relationship between identity and agency in a collective conceptualization of the citizen. Through content analysis of a sampling of public media, we present the case of the Garneau Sisterhood to consider the relationship between collective identity and agency in challenging the constraints of individualist notions of citizenship. Finally, we argue that feminist citizenship education is needed to engage the notion of collective identity and agency as a source of empowerment for students, and other citizens, to raise issues of importance in the public sphere.

Author Biography

Anna McClean, University of Alberta

MEd Candidate Department of Educational Policy Studies University of Alberta

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Published

2010-05-11

Issue

Section

Articles