In the present article, the interlinking between language and sexuality in a secondary language classroom is explored. The aim of the article is to examine use of performances of sexuality in conversation practices in an English classroom in a Swedish secondary school. The data production method is classroom observations, and the examples analysed are taken from field notes made during three grade eight English lectures in a Swedish secondary school. Using concepts of normativity and performativity, I analyse how sexuality is employed in classroom conversations. The results show that reproduction of heteronormativity seems intrinsic to language education in these cases. The pupils, in various ways, employ sexuality as a common bond that facilitates smooth conversations, for instance by using references to hypothetical heterosexual relationships, thereby positioning themselves as heterosexual, or by drawing on other recognizable performances of, e.g. femininity, masculinity and heterosexuality.

Gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the Nordic labor market prevails, despite decades of preventive work. The #Metoo movement has clearly challenged past and current notions of the Nordic countries as gender equal welfare states, but it also pointed at the inability of policy to overcome its own prerequisites. In this study, we analyze past research on sexual harassment in Nordic working life, especially targeting theoretical, methodological, and practical results and challenges. By taking this systematic Nordic research review as a point of departure, we also develop a framework to analyze and transgress existing boundaries of policy and research in several ways. By reimagining research practices, as well as neoliberal management protocols for prevention, we elaborate on ways forward through several analytical steps. Finally, we envisage a need to overcome an immanent paradox when performing social research, pointing towards a vision of critical research moving beyond contemporary research politics and policy.

One emphasised discourse in Swedish higher education policy is internationalisation, which is in line with EU recommendations to ensure a sustainable knowledge system. This knowledge system, perhaps especially in Sweden, also emphasises the importance of gender equity. In this study, we are interested in the recontextualisation between discourses of internationalisation and gender in Swedish higher education (HE) at both national and local levels. We use critical discourse analysis to examine two different examples: (1) discourses in national HE policy, and, (2) discourses at a Swedish university and one of its departments. Overall, we find that government discourses on HE are recontextualised in ways that support national, standardised interests rather than local university needs. Although these discourses emphasise the importance of both internationalisation and gender through articulations of mobility, sustainability and equity, there are strong individualistic aspirations in line with a meritocratic system. These patterns are even more pronounced at the local university level, where these discourses join to promote certain successful departments and academic subjects. In conclusion, the findings illustrate how the recontextualisation between internationalisation and gender discourses legitimises the prevailing gender divide — not the other way around — but also that this recontextualisation can create tensions and changes.

This article studies the production of heterosexuality as a default setting in a language classroom. Using observations in a year 8 Swedish class as a method for data production, the focus is on the production of sexuality in the interaction between the teacher, the pupils and the teaching material in the class- room work with three short stories. The aim is to problematize the way hetero- sexuality is being reproduced as taken for granted, both through the content of the short stories and through the interaction in class around the stories. The analyses shows that the continuous unmarked presence of heterosexual narratives serve as a default background in the short stories and is followed up in the teaching in its focus on the dramaturgic aspects of writing a short story rather than on the meaning making aspects of writing and reading. The practices of taking heterosexuality for granted reproduce heterosexuality as a default in the classroom, which reproduces it as normative, whilst also creating a pedagogical leeway.

CConfero: Essays on Education, Philosophy and Politics is an interdisciplinary journal on issues related to education and social criticism. The journal provides a space for essayistic writing in this area, and particularly welcomes philosophical and political contributions.

Power abuse is central to gender-based violence (GBV), and research suggests that GBV continues to thrive within academic environments, despite a low number of formal complaints (Lipinsky et al, 2022). The aim of this article is to explore power expressions and structures of inequality which enable gender-based violence within academia but also how such abuse is resisted. The analysis is based on two sets of interviews from the EU Horizon 2020 funded UniSAFE project: one with individuals directly affected by GBV, and one with professionals working on implementation of policies/practices against GBV. Theoretically, the article draws on Gaventa’s (2005) power-analysis framework and Ahmed’s (2021) work on power and complaints. We find that the struggles of recognition and reporting are related to the invisible and hidden nature of the power abuse, as well as the specific context of academia. The abuse is often subtle but persistent and thus challenging to capture through incident-based reporting. Furthermore, the conditions for abuse are shaped by hierarchies and dependencies. We find that the forms of resistance possible to enact are related to the nature and condition of the abuse. While strings of dependencies create conditions for control and exploitation, they also shape the conditions for informal strategies of resistance that can be used in the pursuit of justice. We conceptualise these forms of subtle and informal strategies as shadow resistance. The article recommends active monitoring of patterns of abuse as well as strategies of resistance to address GBV in academia.