Allyson Jule crosses continents for TWU

Posted by admin on Sep 30, 2008 in News | 0 comments

After spending four years obtaining her PhD in London and six years as a Senior Lecturer in Education in Wales, Allyson Jule saw an opportunity for change. Her former colleagues at Trinity Western University tipped her off to a vacant position in the School of Education. The pull back to TWU was made complete when she caught wind of the inauguration of the Gender Studies Institute.

Since 1993, Jule has been traveling back and forth between the United Kingdom and Canada to do sessional work for TWU. She taught within both the English and communications departments while still being employed by the University of Glamorgan in Wales. It was her early work with Drs. John Klassen and Barbara Pell, and Professor Lynn Szabo and Elsie Holmes in the English department that got her interested in gender studies.

A self-proclaimed post-feminist scholar, Jule is interested in both feminine and masculine voices. “Post” in this sense does not necessarily mean after, but rather a process of fragmentation and destabilization, she notes.

“I don’t have an agenda I’m trying to push, I’m curious to see how gender works itself out. I am a student of feminism, not a crusader.”

She is not the stereotypical “angry feminist” either. “I’m sad at the way gender has broken us,” she said.

Author and editor of five books, Jule is most proud of Being Feminist, Being Christian.
“It seemed to generate the most interesting conversation,” she said.

Her most recent book, A Beginner’s Guide to Language and Gender, discusses how gender and language interact in a variety of settings.

“We learn math and science and history in school, but my work explores other things being taught, things that are more subtle and things that reveal who is significant in the classroom. The classroom is a microcosm of society. Who counts here and why?” Jule wrote on her website. These thoughts are at the forefront of her teaching.

On being back at TWU in a long-term position, Jule said, “I was delightfully surprised that we both had matured. Trinity has lost its off-putting conservatism and that excites me; feminism and Christianity are [being] confirmed.”

The GSI allows students to connect with specific TWU courses on gender, but Jule wants to build on this list. Courses are offered in computer technology, communications, counseling psychology, English, French, history, psychology, philosophy, nursing, religious studies, and sociology.

“The thing missing from it is education,” she said. Her hope is to develop classes that focus on gender studies in education and the role of gender in the classroom.
Jule’s books are available in the TWU bookstore and you can visit her on the web at www.AllysonJule.com.