Getting beyond anaemic love: from the pedagogy of cordial relations to a pedagogy for difference

Abstract

The curricula teachers teach are intimately bound with who they are. The literature on multicultural and anti-oppressive education does not adequately examine teachers' emotions in this type of teaching and learning. What are the emotional subtexts that accompany classroom celebrations of diversity? What may help teachers engage in more courageous teaching that confronts resistance, is not afraid of conflict, and leads to genuine communication and learning across difference? The first question refers to what is termed here a pedagogy of cordial relations that is akin to anaemic love, whereas the second question alludes to a pedagogy for difference, which involves Self-Other transformation. The goal is to help educators recognize where they stand in terms of these two pedagogies and move towards the latter. This study uses inquiry methods and a sociopsychological theory of emotions in organizations to explore purposely selected narratives by white teachers of classroom critical incidents that bring hidden emotions into view.Three key moments are highlighted: coming to awareness of the hidden emotions that support cordial relations; translating such awareness into a transformed role for the teacher; and changing the classroom environment to foster this learning in students. This paper concludes with a thought experiment, whereby the knowledge gathered through this inquiry transforms one of these difficult moments, and with some reflections on policy.

An argument for love in intercultural education for teacher education

“…Consequently, learning is seen as a process that occurs within students, not within the teacher, and the teacher is commonly portrayed as a spectator (facilitator, supporter, observer, evaluator) in the process. When the educational relationship is viewed in this way, the roles of "teacher" and "learner" comprise a power relationship that allows teachers to withdraw to power positions at a painful moment (Keith 2010). Teachers may do so because it provides a comfortable escape route from difficult emotions, or because they may feel the emotional rules obligate them to appear in control in their role, and they may not feel they have the right to experience difficult emotions (Keith 2010).…”

“…When the educational relationship is viewed in this way, the roles of "teacher" and "learner" comprise a power relationship that allows teachers to withdraw to power positions at a painful moment (Keith 2010). Teachers may do so because it provides a comfortable escape route from difficult emotions, or because they may feel the emotional rules obligate them to appear in control in their role, and they may not feel they have the right to experience difficult emotions (Keith 2010). In intercultural education, in turn, teachers and students should be able to step out of their comfort zones into an uncertain, intersubjective space vibrant with new possibilities (Wang 2005, 56) When we ask students to think and engage in a "self-shattering" process, the teacher educator's own sense of self should not be privileged (Wang 2005), and this is not pedagogically sensible or ethically sustainable.…”

Towards a pedagogy of love: exploring pre-service teachers’ and youth’s experiences of an activist sport pedagogical model

“…As a way of fostering youth's imagination, the teacher moves away from the role of expert, with regard to knowledge of difference, and reveals himself or herself as also a learner, who is enacting an ethic of human connectedness (Keith 2010). The activist approach created a space for teachers to change.…”

“…For Freire, it is a love based in pedagogical dialogue, solidarity (commitment to others and commitment to the cause of liberation), hope and imagination. This love is not a checklist of methods or what Keith (2010) called 'anaemic love', a pedagogy of cordial relations. It is a love that requires ongoing, conscious reflection and action regarding how men and women exist in the world, with the world, and with each other (Schoder 2010).…”

An Action-oriented Critical Pedagogical Theory

“…And its endgame is centered in the future by offering the learner a vision of hope, a hope "rooted in children's passionate belief in fairness" and "in their willingness to discipline themselves to create just solutions to problems" (Wilkerson, 2011, p. 393). Keith (2010) argues that educators can join the struggle by searching for ways to conceptualize and construct classrooms that include and promote equity and justice for students who are poor and members of racial, ethnic, and other socially constructed minorities. Keith refers to the power of love in this struggle.…”