Questions and Complexities in Feminist Poststructural Policy Analysis

The chapters included in this volume represent a range of feminist poststructural approaches to understanding the social contracts that are reified in policies. These policies posit norms and expectations for both individual behaviors and institutional practices. The approaches found in this book, unique from other approaches to policy analysis, foreground the underlying discourses that not only guide behavior, but also constitute the terms or frameworks through which educators, policy-makers, students, and community members structure their thinking. That thinking can relate to the characterization of students, faculty, community members, or administrators. It can also influence perceptions of the social (to include economic, legal, political, and environmental) responsibilities of organizations. In either case, how educators and policymakers view what is available to us within perceptible discourses matters a great deal.