“The World Well Found”: Critical Thinking in the Contact Zone

Abstract

Motivated by the desire to "reconsider the models of community that many of us rely on in teaching and theorizing," Mary Louise Pratt defines "contact zones" as "social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power." 1 Inside such spaces, pedagogical encounters can be challenging on many different levels. Pratt refers to a revamped course on the Americas, for example, by saying "The very nature of the course put ideas and identities on the line." 2 She further explains, "Along with rage, incomprehension, and pain, there were exhilarating moments of wonder and revelation, mutual understanding, and new wisdom," even describing the latter positive experiences as "the joys of the contact zone." 3 While we might wonder whether all the students would necessarily see things this way, Pratt reassures us that "The sufferings and revelations were, at different moments to be sure, experienced by every student," immediately adding "No one was excluded, no one was safe." 4 In the last paragraph, she says that the commitment to design the course so that it was "the best site for learning that it can be" meant that the search for "the pedagogical arts of the contact zone" 5 would continue.In this essay, I want to argue that inside the contact zone the cultivation of a certain conception of critical thinking, one where the critical thinker is "appropriately moved by reasons," should be one of these "pedagogical arts." 6 First articulated and then developed by Harvey Siegel, this approach to critical thinking makes explicit the connection between an acquired ability to identify and evaluate arguments, which Siegel calls "reason assessment," with a commitment to cultivate "certain attitudes, dispositions, habits of mind, and character traits," which he terms "critical spirit." 7 To be a critical thinker, in other words, is to assess arguments in a certain spirit with the goal of possessing good reasons that can inform and properly influence beliefs, desires, and actions.

Affect[ing] and Listening to the “Critical Spirit” in Communities of Inquiry

“…As such, we want to suggest that to be "appropriately moved by reasons," as Harvey Siegel urges, is much more than a causal interaction between three sides of a triangle. 13 It is primordially an affective one. Affect-not reason-is what appropriately moves us.…”

“…This practice may allow us to help students better "appreciate the vastness and complexity of the world we share." 19 This is a praiseworthy and vital pedagogical goal-and one that is insufficiently represented in contemporary political discourse.…”

“…These three components of the triangle work together simultaneously to "produce a proposition that is 'meaningful' and therefore counts as knowledge." 3 To meet the demands of such triangulation and to foster Siegel's version of critical thinking, Davis argues for the cultivation of communities of inquiry (COIs) where individuals can "take seriously the pedagogical goal of enhancing their capacity to be 'critical thinkers' . .…”