Teaching to Transgress: A Critical (Theoretical) Inquiry into (Practical) Possibilities

1. Teaching to Transgress: A Critical (Theoretical) Inquiry into (Practical) Possibilities Central New Mexico Community College JamileeGerzon (CHSS) and Beth Giebus-Chavez (SAGE) CTL Conference - January 13, 2017

2. Today’s Presentation • INTRODUCTION: • bell hooks & Teaching to Transgress • PART ONE: • How do race, class, gender, and other identity constructions create barriers to listening to and being heard by students? • PART TWO: • How do we as teachers open ourselves to transformative learning? • PART THREE: • What are some first-week activities that can create inclusive, democratic settings and safe spaces? • CONCLUSION: • Continuing the conversation: Friday, February 24th

3. Small Group Discussion • Within small groups of 3-4, introduce yourself to fellow participants and discuss the following: • What does ‘teaching to transgress’ mean to you? • What do you hope to get out of this session?

4. bell hooks • Writer, teacher, and cultural critic bell hooks was born Gloria Jean Watkins on September 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to a poor working class family. She received her PhD in English literature from the University of California-Santa Cruz, and has published over 75 books and scholarly articles, in topics such as masculinity and patriarchy, engaged pedagogy, feminist consciousness and community creation, and representation and politics.   • Selected publications • hooks, bell (1981).Ain't I a woman?: Black women and feminism • hooks, bell (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom • hooks, bell (1996). Reel to real: race, sex, and class at the movies.  • hooks, bell (2003). Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope. • hooks, bell (2004). We real cool: Black men and masculinity. • hooks, bell (2009). Belonging: A culture of place.

5. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom • Teaching to Transgress(1994) is a collection of essays in which hooks explores education, race, feminism, and transformative learning and argues for a progressive, holistic education– engaged pedagogy.

6. PART ONE • How do race, class, gender, and other identity constructions create barriers to listening to and being heard by students?

7. The Culture of Domination • How have you seen a “culture of domination” play out in the classroom? • What seems to be the dominant culture in CNM students’ lives? • “Today, as I witness the rise in white supremacy, the growing social and economic apartheid that separates white and black, the haves and the have-nots, men and women, I have placed alongside the struggle to end racism a commitment to ending sexism and sexist oppression, to eradicating systems of class exploitation. Aware that we are living in a culture of domination, I ask myself now, as I did more than twenty years ago, what values and habits of being reflect my/our commitment to freedom.” (26-27)

8. Barriers to Listening & Being Heard • “Making the classroom a democratic setting where everyone feels a responsibility to contribute is a central goal of transformative pedagogy. Throughout my teaching career, white professors have often voiced concern to me about nonwhite students who do not talk. As the classroom becomes more diverse, teachers are faced with the way the politics of domination are often reproduced in the educational setting…. I have taught brilliant students of color, many of them seniors, who have skillfully managed never to speak in classroom settings. Some express the feeling that they are less likely to suffer any kind of assault if they simply do not assert their subjectivity. They have told me that many professors never showed any interest in hearing their voices. Accepting the decentering of the West globally, embracing multiculturalism, compels educators to focus attention on the issue of voice. Who speaks? Who listens? And why?”(39-40) • Who speaks? Who listens? And why? • What role, if any, does the instructor play in changing this?

9. PART TWO • How can we as teachers reflect critically on our teaching and open ourselves to transformative learning?

10. Critical Reflection & Transformative Learning • “Neither Friere’s work nor feminist pedagogy examined the notion of pleasure in the classroom. The idea that learning should be exciting, sometimes even ‘fun,’ was the subject of critical discussion by educators writing about pedagogical practices in grade schools, and sometimes even high schools. But there seemed to be no interest among either traditional or radical educators in discussing the role of excitement in higher education.” (7) • “The quest for knowledge that allows us to unite theory and practice is one such passion. To the extent that professors bring this passion, which has to be fundamentally rooted in a love for ideas we are able to inspire, the classroom becomes a dynamic place where transformations in social relations are concretely actualized and the false dichotomy between the world outside and the inside world of academia disappears.” (195) • “To restore passion in the classroom or to excite it in classrooms where it has never been, professors must find again the place of eros within ourselves and together allow the mind and body to feel and know desire.” (199) • My commitment to engaged pedagogy is an expression of political activism. (203) • When have you felt pleasure or excitement in the classroom? • What do you think it would take to feel pleasure or excitement in the classroom?

11. PART THREE • What are some first-week activities that can create inclusive, democratic settings and safe spaces?

12. First-Week Activities • From Stephen Brookfield, Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults. Jossey-Bass, 2013. • Developing Bottom-Up Ground Rules • An Alternative Way of Introducing Learners: The Power Bus

13. First-Week Activities • From EdChange.org • Define “respect” in small groups: • What does it mean for you to show respect, and what does it mean for you to be shown respect? • Who Am I poems: • Ask participants to take ten to fifteen minutes to write a poem called "Who I Am." Instruct them that the only rule is that each line should begin with the words "I am..." Leave it open to their interpretation as much as possible, but suggest that they can, if they wish, include statements about where they're from regionally, ethnically, religiously, and so on; memories from different points in their lives; interests and hobbies; mottos or credos; favorite phrases; family traditions and customs; and whatever else defines who they are. Be sure to let them know that they will be sharing their poems.

14. Small Group Activity • Within small groups of 3-4, discuss other possibilities for first-week activities that can create can create inclusive, democratic settings and safe spaces. • Please jot them down on the paper provided. We will gather the ideas together and send them to you over the weekend.

15. Conclusion: What now? “To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us to behave in ways the perpetuate domination.” – bell hooks

16. Social Justice Initiatives @ CNM.EDU • Marissa Juarez will facilitate a Faculty Learning Community on re-working classes around social justice. Part of this FLC will involve creating an interdisciplinary archive of teaching documents (lessons, assignments, activities, teaching philosophies, etc.) around issues of difference and inequality.    • Liz Bennett & Ari Rosner-Salazar are organizing a Social Justice Symposium for interested students, faculty, and staff to present their class or individual work related to social justice themes. Interested faculty can create assignments that tie in to the event, for class or extra credit. People may display poems, artwork, research projects or posters, deliver speeches, etc. This will take place at Main Campus during Spring 2017, in the 11th or 12th week of class. • Lissa Knudsen is also interested in organizing a reading group or FLC, with possible selections including The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, Towards the "Other" America: Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter, and/or   Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

17. Social Justice Initiatives @ CNM.EDU • Seamus O'Sullivan has sent around information related to asanctuary campus request letter and campaign. There are many ways to get involved with this effort. If you are interested in doing so, contact tosullivan@cnm.edu with an off-campus email address.  • A team of CHSS faculty and administrators have begun developing a Social Justice Concentration for students who are working on their AA in Liberal Arts. While this is in the early stages, the working plan is to use Introduction to Cultural Studies as an anchor course, with students going on to choose from a list of approved electives (drawn from pre-existing CHSS classes). If you are interested in learning more about this as it goes on and whether courses in your program could fit in, contact ebennett18@cnm.edu • Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ) has a newly re-formed chapter in Albuquerque. If you're not already familiar with this group, it's worth checking them out: http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/about

18. Know Your Rights:Thursday, January 26 (tentative date) • El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos (The Center on Equality and Rights) has agreed to do a “Know Your Rights” presentation at CNM’s main campus. The presentation will focus on what is legally required of undocumented immigrants in dealing with local and state police and federal immigration authorities. • While the primary audience for the presentation is our undocumented immigrant students, the information is valuable for both faculty and staff who work with them.

19. Continuing the Conversation on Teaching to Transgress • Friday, March 3rd (tentative) • A short meeting to re-connect, reflect, and discuss the work we are doing.