More than Right: Toward an Affective Curriculum of Connection

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Conflict, Power, and Entanglements with Curriculum

Abstract

In the last decade, a political fault line opened up along educational attainment as political parties realigned. In the last presidential election, educational attainment became a powerful predictor of voting preferences. While some might be inclined to revel in the smug superiority of being on the “smart” side, the election revealed the consequences of the preoccupation with rightness: broken relationships, stalled institutions, and fractured movements. This paper uses vignettes based on an affectively-charged interview between a careful journalist and a comedian-podcaster. Through three vignettes drawn from the interview, the authors analyze the effects of the preoccupation with rightness. While some might argue that right is might, through the preoccupation with rightness, rightness gets in the way of flourishing.

Authors

• Seth A. McCall, Lake Superior State University

• Sarah M. Gerth van den Berg, Teachers College, Columbia University