Politics and Pedagogy: Political Discourse In and Of the Classroom

In the light of current domestic and international events, we are at a moment at which political discourse in and about the academic classroom is both particularly pressing and particularly fraught. Classroom discussions may become unusually heated, or, to the contrary, students may already seem politically exhausted and disaffected—both of which pose challenges for teachers hoping to engage their students in academic and civic life.  And not only are there challenges around the emergence of politics in the classroom; the academic classroom itself has emerged as a political issue, with partisan debates about what should be taught and how—and with those debates having especially significant implications for pedagogy and scholarship regarding gender, sexuality, race, and ongoing imperialist violences.  How should we best negotiate the complexities of politics in the classroom, politics about the classroom, and the politics of the classroom itself? 

This event from the Pembroke Center's "LGBTQIA+ Thinking Initiative" is designed to provide a space for participants actively to engage with these questions.  While we will be spurred by an introduction (Lynne Joyrich, LGBTQIA+ Thinking Initiative Director and Professor of Modern Culture and Media) and by brief opening reflections by members of the Brown community—Nadje Al-Ali (Robert Family Professor of International Studies and Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies), Isaac Essex (PhD Student in American Studies), Katie Rieser (Director of Teacher Education and Senior Lecturer in Education), and Andre Willis (Associate Professor of Religious Studies)—all attendees are encouraged to participate in open discussion. 

Host or Publisher Pembroke Center, Brown University