Emotions Within the Ecology of Learning and Community College Practices

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: Cultural Historical Activity Theory Ecologies of Learning and Boundary Crossing: Reimagining Social Futures, Redefining Language and Ability, and Renegotiating Cultural Identities

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the research that posits emotions as an ensemble of intersecting social and power relations within institutional practices (Boler, 1999). Integrating the Feminist literature on emotions with TAS-extended Vygotskian Cultural-Historical theory (Stetsenko, 2016), this paper focuses on a preliminary situated inquiry on how emotions are implicated in oppressive learning conditions and institutional practices in a community college. Seven community college students in the Peer Activist Learning Community (PALC) were interviewed. A thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) illustrated how PALC students typically drew on individualistic discourses in relating to their emotions, while also identifying oppressive institutional conditions in their community college experiences. Findings suggest the need for solidarity building spaces in community colleges.

Author

• Michael Rifino, The City University of New York