Abstract
In classes that address gender and sex, students are asked to understand the roles these categories play in systems of social stratification. Whether they are already highly conscious of the effects of these systems through extended personal experience, or are coming to a new awareness of social inequity through our classes, students can have a negative affective reaction to this course content, finding it overwhelming, disempowering, and depressing. Inspired by bell hooks’ version of a “pedagogy of hope,” this paper considers the affective elements of learning, addressing the difficulties students can face with the emotional impact of course material. It also discusses several teaching strategies intended to help move students beyond the emotional crisis by making agency and activism explicit elements of the learning process.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anzaldúa, G. (1999). Borderlands/la frontera: The new mestiza (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books.
Denzin, N. (2006). The politics and ethics of performance pedagogy: Toward a pedagogy of hope. In D. S. Madison & J. Hamera (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of performance studies (pp. 325–338). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Diversi, M., & Moreira, C. (2013). Real world: Classrooms as decolonizing sites against neoliberal narratives of the other. Cultural Studies—Critical Methodologies, 13(6), 469–473.
Foley, D. (2005). Reflections on the field, Enrique Trueba: A Latino critical ethnographer for the ages. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 36(4), 354–366.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). New York: Continuum.
Freire, P. (1992). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed (R. R. Barr, Trans.). New York: Continuum.
Guajardo, M., Guajardo, F., & Casaperalta, E. C. (2008). Transformative education: Chronicling a pedagogy for social change. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 39(1), 3–22.
Hooks, B. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.
Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. Cambridge: South End Press.
Hooks, B. (2003). Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. New York: Routledge.
Moraga, C., & Anzaldúa, G. (1983). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color. New York: Kitchen Table, Women of Color Press.
Piepmeier, A. (2009). Doing third wave feminism: Zines as a pedagogy of hope. In A. Piepmeier (Ed.), Girl zines: Making media, doing feminism (pp. 155–191). New York: New York UP.
Renner, A. (2009). Teaching community, praxis, and courage: A foundations pedagogy of hope and humanization. Educational Studies, 45, 59–79.
Webb, D. (2013). Pedagogies of hope. Studies in Philosophy & Education, 32(4), 397–414.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rehm, M. (2016). Agency and Activism as Elements in a ‘Pedagogy of Hope’: Moving Beyond ‘This Class Is Depressing’. In: Haltinner, K., Pilgeram, R. (eds) Teaching Gender and Sex in Contemporary America. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30364-2_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30364-2_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30362-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30364-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)