As a fortunate child,¹ I had the privilege of enjoying a wealth of childhood memories from my schooling experience. I attended government-aided schools till the tenth grade. My memories of school include more than just the life within the school. They include the everyday journey of walking to school and returning home while relishing the beauty of trees, rivers, and the blue sky of a coastal village in Kerala. 

These memories are also about the public life within the school and village. The school I attended provided me with opportunities to meet many poets, film and theatre artists, activists, and scientists. Almost every weekend during my school days, my friends and I were at the school attending camps, festivals, meetings, and child club activities.

I was not living this journey alone; my twin sister accompanied me until the seventh standard, along with many other friends from the village. We exchanged ideas and thoughts through our involvement in clubs and public engagements. My sister was particularly active in sports, with her potential in sports and other co-curricular activities matching mine. 

Unfortunately, the gender binaries prevalent in our society cast a shadow over our childhood. Something unanticipated happened during our high school years: my parents restricted my sister’s involvement in activities outside of the family and school. This restriction coincided with the final years of middle school and the onset of her menstrual cycle.

Kumar (2021) made similar observations of drastic changes in adolescent life as a boy in his autobiographical essay Growing Up Male. Unlike Kumar, my experience as a girl/​boy was not so divided due to the presence of women activists in my school and village. However, the understanding of gender binaries in family and society, and the separation of my sister from my life in school and society, confused my thoughts. We began to lead significantly different lives.

When I was admitted to a postgraduate programme followed by doctoral research at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), my sister got married at the age of 21. My resistance and rebellion to stop her marriage were simply silenced by my family and relatives. However, my sister continued her life within the family circle. She is restricted by familial duties and no longer dreams about her passions. On the other side, I am continuing my journey of inquiry through education!

I briefly recollected my childhood and young adulthood memories here to demonstrate the profound influence of family, community, and school on self. The education process is pervasive in human life, the separation of education from family and community and confining it within the institutional constraints of school and college is bringing down its transformative potential. This understanding of education and schooling always guided my inquiry into the transformative potential of school as a pedagogic institution. 

My childhood experiences with gender in society and my encounters with the idea of social change enabled me to inquire about gender, school, and social change. Gender as a social structure haunted me more than other structural issues in our society. My learnings on structural issues were always perceived through the lens of gender. This continued in my research journey. 

I used the concept of ​“Doing gender” (West and Zimmerman, 1987) to understand the pedagogic process of the school. Doing gender elaborates feminine-masculine manifestations of gender through interactional and institutional mediations in life. The individual is doing gender in a web of interactions. The sociological web of life offered to children in the family, school, and society is dynamic.

The world around the child is offered in such a way that it constrains the agency of the young member of society to evolve whereas the dynamic character of the world opens the windows of possibilities for her. This dialectical notion of power offers possibilities to understand gender through the dominance of society and the autonomy of the individual in society.

While accounting for their article on Doing gender West and Zimmerman used the concept of Redoing gender in 2009. Redoing gender is all about redoing self and society. It is a journey of continuous negotiations with self and society using the given opportunities. Redoing gender (not undoing) helped me locate my investigation into the pedagogical potential of schools in offering an emancipatory learning experience. I experienced my higher education journey as a continuous evolution of the self through my negotiations with my identity as a boy and as a male member of society. 

On each day of the school visit, during my research, interactions with children and teachers unfolded as negotiations with the self. The analysis of the curriculum, and meaning-making of the children in school, family, and local community offered a rich reflective experience of understanding the researcher-researched dichotomy and joy of transcending the boundaries of the self and others in our society.

I am not claiming that my educational experience or research experience was an ideal journey of learning. I was bound by the norms and rules of institutions and society. Gender binaries and the age hierarchy also constrained me. My class and caste background created challenges throughout this journey. The world was presented to me in a way that constrained my agency, yet it also presented windows of possibilities because of its dynamic character. Hence, my journey continues, and the change continues. 

While I am writing this note, I am thinking about my new journey as a teacher at Azim Premji University. Azim Premji University works to fulfil the vision of Education for Social Change and aims to achieve a just, equitable and humane world within and outside the University. This is reflected in our campus culture. We are trying our best to develop a gender-just educational milieu in our campus. As a teacher, whenever I walk into my classroom I ask the questions: Can I see myself in my students? Can I understand their journeys as the journeys of struggle and aspirations, as the journeys of pain and joy? Can I redo myself in this process of education as a teacher?

I will end this note by quoting one of my favourite educators, Paulo Freire, from Pedagogy of the Oppressed – ​“Individuals perceive the extent of dehumanisation, they may ask if humanisation is a viable possibility. Within history, in concrete, objective contexts, both humanisation and dehumanisation are possibilities for a person as an uncompleted being conscious of their incompletion.” 

Note:

1. In contemporary society, childhood happiness is a privilege. Many children are experiencing violence and trauma in their everyday life. 

References

• Kumar, K. (2021). Growing Up Male. In N. Manjrekar (Ed.), Gender and education in India: A reader (1^st ed., pp. 36 – 39). Routledge
• West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (2009). Accounting for doing gender. Gender and Society, 23(1), 112 – 122.
• Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed (2^nd ed.). Penguin.
  
• West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender & Society, 1(2), 125 – 151.

About the Author

Vishnu K is an MA in Education faculty member at Azim Premji University. His research interests include critical education, sociology of education, gender and education, politics of education and education and development.