Becoming a ‘Girl’: post‐structuralist suggestions for educational research

Abstract

Post‐structuralist analyses have yet to be used widely by feminist classroom researchers. Some, such as Bronwyn Davies and Valerie Walkerdine, have showed how post‐structuralism provides a conceptual language which transcends agency/structure dualisms, as well as avoids the simplicities of theories which invoke a monolithic notion of patriarchal power in understanding girls’ classroom experiences. This paper attempts to spell out some of the diverse benefits of post‐structuralism for feminist empirical research in education.