Critical Pedagogy and Redemptive Narratives of Hope

• In Event: 31.060 - Critical Hope and Social Justice

Abstract

This paper analyzes the testimonies of 25 students that participated in a Critical Pedagogy (CP) course. The analysis indicates that when CP is modeled as a Redemptive Progressive Pedagogical Discourses it is rejected by the students. Redemptive discourses may have have good intentions, but are presented using a naïve notion of pedagogical hope, demonize the “other” (market forces, neoliberalism, etc), minimize the risks involved in struggles, and rely on idealized “superterachers” to solve any conflict. The analysis also shows that in an effort to empower, develop consciousness, or create counter-narratives in the struggle against oppressive educational systems, Cps often cannot recognize the limitations and contradictions of their own narratives. In order to better understand the dilemmas inherent in the positioning and use of narratives that negate the complex web of factors in contemporary teaching and learning we argue that the viability of Critical Pedagogies as educational-political discourses depends upon the articulation of discourses of hope that go beyond notions of individual superteachers and “narratives of redemption” to implementing pedagogical practices that both recognize and support educators as committed intellectuals.

Author

• Gustavo E. Fischman, Arizona State University