Teaching for Open-Mindedness: A Justice-Oriented Approach

• In Event: Relational and Ethical Dimensions of Pedagogy

Abstract

This article explores the pedagogical virtue of open-mindedness in practice and its relationship to epistemic justice through analysis of a fictional, narrative case. The case focuses on a young white woman who attempts to implement a pedagogy of open-mindedness during a unit on the civil rights movement. We examine three tensions that arise for teachers as they seek to enact a pedagogy of open-mindedness. First, what form of open-mindedness should guide them? Second, how should they respond to limits in their knowledge and understanding? Third, how should teachers exercise authority within a pedagogy of open-mindedness? We argue that practicing teachers must counteract legacies of epistemic injustice as a necessary part of cultivating their own and their students’ access to open-mindedness.

Authors

• Tadashi Dozono, California State University - Channel Islands

• Rebecca M Taylor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign