Fighting the Plague: "Difficult" Knowledge as Sirens' Song in Teacher Education

• In Event: Curriculum as Violence, Curriculum as Peace in K–16 Education

Abstract

Of the many plagues that affect communities today, an insidious one (as identified by Albert Camus and Maxine Greene) is indifference and depersonalization. The authors call on educators to co-compose curricula with our students to fight this plague. Through a weaving of our experiential, embodied knowledge with recognizing the role of difficult knowledge as well as conscious and unconscious defenses, we argue that educators can develop an approach to “diversity” harmonious with radical love during these troubled times of conflict and increased visibility of hatred. Like Sirens luring sailors to precarious shores, we seek to entice teachers and students to the difficult knowledge of ongoing inequity and structural violence that they might otherwise avoid.

Authors

• Cathryn van Kessel, University of Alberta

• Muna Saleh, Concordia University of Edmonton