Abstract

Having realized profound differences between females and males, experienced and sustained  in the groups with whom we contacted during the work developed with the Estudantes da Cooperação [Cooperation Students] (group of students from any of the countries of the Portuguese-speaking community) and the continuation of a line of reflection in Psychology, openly critical of knowledge and practices from traditional schools of this science, we propose to focus the debate on the role of the University - as a possible place/time change with regard to gender/sex issues - and question the usual readings of psychological perspectives on these matters, as follows:

(1) revisit some of the data obtained through women's narratives and men of any of these countries and rework them by comparison and relationship with new data obtained more recently in interviews with young students from the University of Coimbra;

(2) reflect upon  how the faculty of the University of Coimbra works, acts and intervenes with regard to gender issues in academia;

(3) reflect how forms of action and (in)visibility in academia impact the general population and the university community in particular;

(4) question the mainstream practices and social dissemination of concepts, reading and behaviour patterns supported by hegemonic psychology;

(5) propose alternatives and discuss areas and forms of intervention in academia  (and community) supported by the knowledge built in the light of critical theories and feminist perspectives in psychology.

Articles up for discussion:

Oliveira, J.M., Saavedra, L., Neves, S., & Nogueira, C. (2013). Critical Feminist Psychology from the Semi-peripheral Southwest of Europe: The Intriguing Case of Portugal. Annual Review of Critical Psychology, 10, 801-816

Text available here: http://hdl.handle.net/10216/66613 or at http://www.discourseunit.com/arcp10/Portugal%20801-816.pdf

Speakers' Bio notes

Maria Jorge Ferro holds a PhD in Psychology specializing in Counseling at the University of Coimbra. Ferro has worked on the Critical Theories and Feminist Perspectives in Counselling, studying the specifics of foreign students of Portuguese language. Maria Jorge Ferro is professor at UC since 1998 and started to lecturer in the various courses of the educational branch of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the same university. Between 1995 and 1999 she was also professor at the Catholic University. Ferro participated in numerous teacher training activities and has published on gender issues and how these aren’t taken into account in the training of these professionals. She has also worked with Clara Moura Lourenço since 2000 and the 2002 article “Educando meninos e meninas: tarefa igualitária ou desigual” [Educating boys and girls: equal or unequal task] published in Revista Portuguesa de Pedagogia [Portuguese Education Journal], 36, 1-2 and 3, was the result of the approaches developed insofar.

Cristina Maria Coimbra Vieira holds a degree in Psychology (1991) pela Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra (FPCEUC) and a PhD in Education Sciences, specialising in Education Psychology (2003), at the same institution where she teaches since 1992. Lecciona há mais de duas décadas unidades curriculares ligadas às metodologias quantitativas e qualitativas de investigação em educação, ao nível de cursos de licenciatura e de pós-graduação. Coordenou entre 2007 e 2012 o Mestrado em Educação e Formação de Adultos e Intervenção Comunitária da FPCEUC. Os seus principais interesses de investigação têm-se centrado em torno das questões de género e cidadania, no âmbito da educação e formação ao longo da vida, com particular relevância para os contextos da família e da escola e para as relações entre os diversos agentes educativos neles envolvidos. É co-autora dos Guiões de Educação Género e Cidadania que foram elaborados para o pré-escolar, 1º ciclo, 2º ciclo e 3º ciclo pela Comissão para a Cidadania e Igualdade de Género (CIG), com a chancela do Ministério da Educação e Ciência, e coordena a equipa que está neste momento a elaborar o Guião para o ensino secundário.  É investigadora integrada no Centro de Estudos Interdisciplinares do Século XX (CEIS20) da Universidade de Coimbra.