- Through the RLL Working Group on Gender Diversity, we intend to open and reinforce discussion regarding non-discriminatory pedagogical practices, in this case related to gender and gender identities within the classroom. The proposals presented here represent RLL’s sensitive and timely concern with the ongoing dynamics of culture and language that inform our own pedagogical activities.
- As such, we are in tune with initiatives adopted by several other universities in the United States, as well as with the developing global movements for linguistic inclusion in the Romance languages. Through the information presented here, we do not seek to impose a prescriptive linguistic or ideological position regarding cultural and socio-political debates. Rather, the purpose of this website is to represent the series of ongoing linguistic innovations (i.e., non-binary pronouns, the neutralization of the generic masculine) that are already taking place in the diverse cultural settings in which our taught languages are spoken.
- We understand that the information presented here is part of a more complex discussion that is taking place in different places and at different levels; none of these proposals is to be taken as fixed or all-encompassing. Through the information included on this page, we present what RLL’s Working Group on Gender Diversity Committee has agreed upon thus far after researching successful practices used in other institutions and reading scholarly publications. Discussion and dialogue continues, and our recommendations for best practice will develop over time.
Image courtesy of Shayna Greenley
