Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Possibilities for a Progressive Civility

Spencer, Leland G.

doi:10.1080/1041794x.2013.847480

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…I then emphasized my goal for the students to understand the course content, not to "win" their agreement with every reading, theory, or idea we would discuss. I underscored that I disagree with some of the articles or theories we would discuss, and I framed civil disagreement as a virtue in the education process (see Bone, Griffin, & Scholz, 2008;Spencer, 2013). I committed to openness about my own perspective rather than pretending to come at the class from a neutral or objective position, and I encouraged the students to do the same-reminding them that this would mean sometimes disagreeing with me.…”

Section: Creating a Safe Spacementioning

confidence: 95%

Engaging Undergraduates in Feminist Classrooms: An Exploration of Professors’ Practices

Spencer

2015

Equity & Excellence in Education

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This article reports the results of a feminist action research project that sought to ascertain professors' best practices for engaging undergraduates in feminist classrooms. In semi-structured interviews, professors recommended assigning readings from a variety of positionalities; creating a safe space for class discussion; relying on data to respond to student resistance; and including issues related to diversity, human identity, and social justice at a curricular level. The article concludes with a discussion of the author's experience implementing this advice in his own teaching for two years.Feminist pedagogies necessarily exist in tension and paradox, fraught with opportunities and challenges. With awareness that one cannot speak of a singular and monolithic feminist pedagogy, in general, we might expect that instructors who identify as feminists want to foster values of equality and freedom in their classrooms-even while institutional roles codify the instructorstudent relationship as hierarchal. Feminist instructors can likely agree that we want our students to become more aware of their own privileges and more capable in relationships and interactions with people from different groups (whether defined by gender, race, class, sexuality, or other axes of difference). Yet, we also want students to recognize that privilege resides not just at the level of the individual but, in fact, emerges as a result of complex structures and systems of power and oppression.Moreover, feminist instructors face impossible paradoxes as employees in institutions that are often organized hierarchically and who are implicated in those same structures and systems of power and oppression we want our students to recognize and resist. Some feminist instructors have institutional privilege and economic security in the form of tenure-track or tenured positions; those with tenure may feel safer to critique their own institutions and the uneven distribution of salary and power on which their institutions (and their own positions) rely. Contingent faculty and part-time faculty, though, have much to risk in offering more radical (or even liberal) points of view. These risks multiply for faculty members of color or who are queer or gender nonconforming, among others. Students, too, come to the classroom differently affected-privileged, disadvantaged, or often in some combination-by those same systems of power and oppression. Students' experiences and perceptions of their own privilege or disadvantage influence their

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Section: Creating a Safe Spacementioning

confidence: 95%

Engaging Undergraduates in Feminist Classrooms: An Exploration of Professors’ Practices

Spencer

2015

Equity & Excellence in Education

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…Using voice to advance civility is an essential component of democratic life. Civility permits diverse groups to engage in conversations about religion (Spencer, 2013), communicate within a global society (Akman, 2011;Chan, 2008;Hammett & Jackson, 2018), and a precondition for democracy (Feierabend & Klicperova-Baker, 2015). Waisanen (2014) emphasized how certain forms of discourse can either advance or undermine democratic engagement during a disagreement.…”

Section: Article In Pressmentioning

confidence: 99%